TEHRAN – The World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) had confirmed Iran’s hosting of the WFTGA Convention in 2017.

The WFTGA convention, a biannual gathering of all tourist guides from more than 70 countries, will be held in Iran in 2017. This is the first time that Iran has bid to host the convention.

The Iran Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (IFTGA) is recognized as the host of the coming convention, the WFTGA Vice President, Ruby Roy, said in a meeting in Tehran on Sunday.

Roy along with Ivana Curuvija, the WFTGA’s Head of Training, has travelled to Iran to assess the facilities for holding the convention 2017 in Iran.

During their ten-day sojourn, they visited different cities, including Isfahan, Kashan and Yazd.

The warm hospitality of Iranians and a great teamwork between members of the IFTGA and volunteers are some of Iran’s capacities for hosting the convention, Roy said.

However there are some challenges for Iran as the host. For example, safety and convenience conditions are not favorable in many Iranian hotels, she continued.

However, the situation can be easily improved and the government should support the IFTGA to accomplish the task, she said.

“Ivana and I selected three hotels in Tehran as the finalists and we introduced them to IFTGA,” she said.

During the meeting, the IFTGA made a short report on the activities for taking preliminary measures for hosting the convention during the past six months.

“The convention will be introduced at Iran’s stands in different tourism exhibitions in the world in 2016,” IFTGA member Mohsen Haji-Saeid said during the event.

“We also plan to visit the tourist guide association of the participant countries in the coming year.

“We aim to introduce seven Iranian cities during the tours to participants in the convention,” he added.

During the event, the deputy director for tourism affairs at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicraft Organization, Morteza Rahmani-Movahhed also made a speech.

“Iran plans to strengthen tourism industry in 2016 by boosting international relations,” he said.

He named “hospitality” and “energetic people” as some of the main strong points of Iran as a tourism destination.

Having Iran to host the event was a collective effort that took over five months, he said, adding that a group of eight tourist guides and tens of others worked together dedicatedly to prepare the bid documents for the association.

WFTGA is a non-profit making professional organization dedicated to the promotion of high standards of training and ethics within the profession.

***** PHOTO: Tourism chief Morteza Rahmani-Movahhed (3rd from left) and WFTGA Vice President Ruby Roy hold the logo of WFTGA Convention 2017 during a ceremony in Tehran on December 27. (ISNA/ Somayyeh Hasanlu)

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