TEHRAN – Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicraft Organization (CHTHO) signed an agreement with Oman’s Ministry of Tourism to boost bilateral ties.

The agreement was signed during a meeting in Tehran on Monday.

CHTHO Director Masoud Soltanifar; the advisor of tourism affairs in the Ministry of Tourism of Oman Sayyid Adil Al Mardas Al Busaidi; the CHTHO deputy director Morteza Rahmani-Movahed, and Oman’s ambassador to Tehran Saud bin Ahmed bin Khalid Al-Birwani attended the meeting.

Iran is ready to share experiences in the fields of handicraft, tourism and cultural heritage with Omani experts, Soltanifar said.

“The government plans to develop tourism, according to which, boosting relations with the neighboring countries is very important,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Omani ambassador Al-Birwani said: “Omani investors have launched new businesses in Iran’s tourism industry, and hope to continue in the future,” Al-Birwani said.

“Oman and Iran have rich historical relations, full of friendly and affective regional cooperation, and we are happy that the two countries decide to boost tourism relations with each other as well,” Rahmani-Movahed marked during the meeting.

He said that Omani people always pay attention to Iran’s tourism potentialities and Oman is always important for Iranian tourists and businessmen.

“Oman is one of 40 countries, which Iran appointed as target markets and Iran’s tourism office will be established in the country in the near future. We are also ready to hold workshops for tourism experts in Oman,” he concluded.

The Omani official, Al Busaidi, said: “Oman plans to introduce historical and cultural places for tourist attraction and Iran has good experiences in this field”.

He called Iran a promoter in the field of handicraft, saying that Iranian craftsmen can help Omani people boost handicraft industry.

“Iran and Oman are Muslim neighbors and these characteristics boost friendly relations between the two sides,” he said.

Many Omani people travel to Iran for religious as well as health tourism, he said.

“Iran has great experiences in the field of preservation and renovation of historical monuments and Oman is eager to learn about them,” he said.

Iran will establish 20 offices by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ends March 19, 2016) besides the existing tourism information offices already operating overseas.

Iran has already set up tourism offices in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Malaysia, Singapore and China.

The offices aim to provide information and distribute items relevant to tourism for tourist centers in the target country. They also publish reports and advertisements in media outlets to attract tourists to Iran.

Holding exhibitions to promote tourism and offering different kinds of travel packages for foreigners are amongst other services provided by the offices.

PHOTO: The Bait Al Zubair Museum in Oman (above) and Tehran's Golestan Palace (below) are two of tourist attractions of countries

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