Iran attracts over 2.4mln foreign tourists in 6 months

Deputy Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Manouchehr Jahanian said Iran has attracted over 2.4 million tourists from different world states during the first 6 months of the current Iranian year (March 20 to September 21, 2012). “2,469,246 foreign tourists have entered Iran in the first six months of the current year which shows a 41% increase compared with the same period last year,” Jahanian told FNA on Monday.

He said that most of the foreign tourists came from Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India and Bahrain.

A US newspaper wrote in November that Iran’s tourism industry has flourished and the number of foreign tourists visiting Iran has increased in recent years despite the US-led sanctions targeting the country’s economy.

“The demand by foreign tourists to visit Iran has gone up,” The Washington Post said in an article titled ‘Tourism a Bright Spot for Iran’ by Jason Rezaian.

It noted that one of the reasons such boom in Iran’s tourism industry is that the foreign purchasing power is at an all-time high in Iran due to a rise in the value of dollar against Iran’s national currency, rial.

Hence, international travelers sensing a good deal are venturing to a country that they have not traveled to before, the daily said.

Although Iran’s travel industry still has not reached what many Iranians think could be its true potential, the trend in recent years has been one of growth exceeding global averages.

From 2004 to 2010, the annual increase in tourists visiting foreign countries was 3.2 percent worldwide, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. Iran’s figures over the same period show tourism in Iran grew at a much faster clip (12.7 percent).