TEHRAN - The number of overnight international visitors to Tehran shows sixth years of consecutive growth, Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index 2017 Report suggests. The figure is estimated to witness 0.9 percent of year-on-year rise by the end of 2017.

Some 1.11 million overnight travelers arrived in Tehran in 2012. The number rose to 1.38m in 2013, 1.43m in 2014, 1.51m in 2015 and 1.64m in 2016, the report says.

The sprawling Iranian capital is also one of the fastest-growing destinations in the Middle East & Africa section of the report, which was released on September 26, 2017.

Dubai named the top destination city in the category followed by Johannesburg, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi, with estimated growth of 7.7%, 6.8%, 3.7%, and 4.5% respectively in the number of overnight international visitors. Tehran ranked fifth.

The 2016 Mastercard report placed Tehran ninth among the top ten fastest-growing destination cities. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, for the first half of the year, Palestine was the world's fastest-growing destination, having experienced a 57% jump in visitors between January and June, Travel Weekly reported.

Mastercard based its judgments on figures compiled from some 130 most visited cities around the world. The study roughly shows visitor volume and spend estimates for the 2016 calendar year, yet delivers a profounder insight of how people travel and spend around the world.

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

Iran hosts some of the world’s oldest cultural monuments, including 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and its varied terrain ranges from desert locales to ski resorts.
Filled from corner to corner with ancient bazaars, museums, mosques, monuments, gardens and palaces set inside bustling cities, historical ruins and rich rural landscapes, the country is increasingly filled with camera-wielding Westerners seeking adventure, archeology and art.

PHOTO: An undated picture released by irandoostan.com shows Western travelers posing for a photo at the premises of Chehel Sotoun, a Safavid-era pavilion in Isfahan, central Iran.

AFM/MG