The southwestern Shiraz metropolis, capital of Fars Province, is already one of Iran's top tourist destinations, but it is increasingly focusing on health and medical tourism as a major revenue stream to boost its economic prospect under increasingly tough economic conditions facing the country.
During the current Iranian year that began in March, the city has managed to attract a growing number of visitors, both local and foreign, looking to use its health tourism facilities. Foreign tourists are expected to find the city more attractive since they can employ its services cheaper due to a significant devaluation of the rial in recent months as a result of reimposed US sanctions.
According to Abdolkhaleq Keshavarzi, deputy head of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, a majority of foreign tourists who have visited Fars Province in the current Iranian year have come for eye, plastic and other specialized surgeries offered at local hospitals.
He told Mehr News Agency that most visitors came from Oman, Iraq and Qatar while some arrived from European states like the UK and Sweden.
Keshavarzi pointed out that European health and medical tourists are showing more favor to the province, especially since a majority of private hospitals in Shiraz have been given national permits to attract health tourists.
Cooperation With Oman
Keshavarzi also announced that representatives from Oman have signed a contract with the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences to establish a specialized clinic.
Omani investors will provide 50% of the required capital, with the university accounting for the rest.
"Specialists will be sent from Shiraz to visit patients, but surgeries will be conducted in state-run and specialized hospitals of Shiraz," he said.
The official added that the province is planning to offer incentives to attract more patients from Tajikistan and Iraq without elaborating further.
"There is vast potential in the area of medical tourism in Fars Province, so health tourism is always a special focus," Mosayeb Amiri, director general of Fars Tourism Organization, said, adding that the focus has only been accentuated in the current year.
According to the official, about 28,500 tourists, a majority of them health and medical visitors, have travelled to Fars Province from Oman so far in the current Iranian year.
Based on a directive approved by the Cabinet on Sept. 17 and further notified by the First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri, Iran has waived the need to obtain visas for Omani residents.
The move was in recognition of recent facilities extended by the Omani government to Iran for boosting the country's health and medical tourism sector.
The visa waiver initiative is the latest step in a series of measures aimed at boosting bilateral relations that have significantly improved recently. The two nations have become much closer both in terms of politics and from an economic standpoint.
To better attract tourists, Amiri pointed out, Fars Province is also focusing on boosting its infrastructures. He said health and medical tourists will be lucrative for the province since they have their medical expenses on top of residence and other expenses.
"If we succeed in attracting health and medical tourists, we will be able to create more jobs in addition to increasing foreign currency incomes," he said, adding that affordability is also a key factor for foreign tourists.
Health City in Shiraz
Shiraz members of parliament are also following up on boosting the city's health and medical tourism sector. In this vein, one of them announced that measures are underway to establish a health city in the metropolis.
"A health city will soon be established in the western part of Shiraz," Shiraz MP Ali Akbari said. "The land has already been bought but some issues remain which will be alleviated soon".
He said launching the city will create new treatment facilities that will help attract foreign tourists, noting that the facilities will only add to the city's cultural, historical and religious attractions.
"When countries are sanctioned, the best way for a dynamic economy is to attract tourists as a fundamental way of earning revenues and creating jobs," the MP said.
Unilateral US sanctions against Iran were reimposed in two rounds, one in August and another in November after US President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers back in May.
The latest tranche of sanctions mostly targeted Iran's oil, banking, shipping and aviation sectors.
Masoud Rezaei, another Shiraz MP, also stressed the need to boost health and medical tourism in Fars Province as a major way of boosting the local economy.
"This is a fundamental issue that needs careful planning. This is especially true in Shiraz since it boasts a multitude of capacities as a medical hub," he said, adding that the province has always witnessed significant numbers of health and medical tourists travelling to the country from Persian Gulf states.
"But unfortunately roads and transportation has been one of the infrastructural areas in which we have not been very successful, so we must also devise plan for these areas to attract more health tourists," the MP said.
Health and medical tourism is expected to play a notable role in expanding the overall tourism sector of Iran, which is being increasingly focused on in the face of reimposed US sanctions.
According to official data released by Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, a total of 5.11 million foreign tourists visited the country during the whole of the previous fiscal year that ended on March 20, 2018.
A year before, 4.90 million tourists travelled to Iran, but during the first half of the current fiscal year that ended on Sept. 22, Iran's inbound tourism sector saw a 51% surge, according to ICHHTO Director Ali Asghar Mounesan, meaning that numbers for the whole year are expected to exceed six million people.
