TEHRAN – The number of eco-lodges has risen sharply across Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province in the current Iranian calendar year 1396 (started on March 21, 2017).

“We had almost no eco-lodges in Sistan-Baluchestan in [year] 1394,” provincial tourism chief Kambiz Moshtaq-Gohari said, adding the number reached 77 over the past two years.

“We forecast to have 200 eco-lodges by the year end,” Mehr quoted Moshtaq-Gohari as saying on Saturday.

During the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22), some 350,000 foreign travelers visited the province as it sees to become a tourist hub for both avid sightseers and history buffs.

AFM/MQ/MG