TEHRAN – A total of 360,200 of expatriate Iranians visited home as sightseers during the first three months of the current Iranian year (March 21 – June 21), a tourism official says.

In the same period, the country also hosted some 1.1 million inbound travelers from Iraq, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, India, China and Germany, Mizan Online quoted Hassan Gerami as saying on Tuesday.

For instance, 246,700 tourists from Iraq, 227,500 from the Republic of Azerbaijan, 156,200 from Afghanistan and 133,392 from Turkey visited Iran, Gerami explained.

In 2016, over 5.5 million foreign travelers from the Middle East, the Americas, Europe and South and East Asia set foot in Iran, fetching close to $8b in revenues.

Back in May, First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri described Iranians living abroad as “precious opportunities” for Iran, saying, “In terms of knowledge, they have occupied lofty ranks in the world. Also, in terms of money, they are very powerful and can help most sectors in the country.”

AFM/PA