As per a new initiative, to counter travel restrictions imposed by the United States, foreign tourists visiting Iran will no longer need to have their passports stamped.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on Sunday, saying that the measure, which entails the issuance of electronic visas for foreign tourists, has been communicated to all representative offices of the Islamic Republic outside the country as well as all domestic airports.
Two officials at the Public Relations Department of the Foreign Ministry confirmed the news to Financial Tribune.
The initiative is a direct attempt at circumventing US travel restrictions against Iran and providing a much-needed boost to the country's tourism sector, which is already feeling the pinch of sanctions. It is aimed at ensuring that travelers to Iran will not be barred from entering the United States after US President Donald Trump issued an order in March 2017, restricting travel to the US for those who have visited Iran, in addition to Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Delavar Bozorgnia, the head of Tehran's office of Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, warned on Sept. 21 that the province–a major attraction for foreign tourists–experienced a decline of over 50% during the first half of the current Iranian year in the number of foreign tourists.
Bozorgnia said 302,216 foreign travelers visited Tehran since the beginning of the current year on March 21, down from 626,195 during the same period of last year.
This is while ICHHTO's data show 1.44 million foreign tourists travelled to Iran during the first quarter of the current Iranian year that ended on June 21, marking a 30% rise compared with last year's similar period.
The move to do away with passport stamps was first proposed by ICHHTO.
The initiative, which was previously piloted in Iran's representative offices in Doha, Muscat and across the Imam Khomeini (Tehran), Mashhad and Shiraz international airports, is part of a bigger support package to stave off the detrimental effects of US sanctions as well as the ongoing currency crisis facing the country's tourism sector.
The support measures also include deferring repayment of loans already received by hotel operators and tourism service providers.
Foreign tourists from neighboring countries that have common land borders with Iran, including Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey, as well as those from the US, the UK, Canada, Jordan, Colombia, Bangladesh and Somalia, are not part of the new initiative, meaning that their passports will be stamped.
Official entities, international airlines and service providing centers such as hotels and hospitals could visit the electronic visa website of Iran's Foreign Ministry at Evisa.mfa.ir to confirm stamp-less visas provided by foreign tourists, if necessary.
