40% Rise in West Azarbaijan Tourists

Over 277,000 foreign tourists have visited West Azarbaijan Province in the last five months, most of whom were medical tourists. The number of inbound tourists has seen a 40% increase, compared with the same period of last year when slightly more than 210,000 tourists entered the province. Jalil Jabbari, the head of the provincial office of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, said the number of Iranian tourists to the province has also risen by 54% during the period from about 365,000 to around 563,000, Mehr News Agency reported.   To catch up with the rising demand, the capacity of the province's accommodation has been increased. "Last year, 615 beds were added and the capacity reached 4,016 beds," Jabbari said. "The number of annual inbound tourists projected in the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2011-16) was 550,000 that must reach 700,000 by the end of the Sixth Plan (2022)."