TEHRAN – The number of eco-lodges across the northern province of Golestan has more than doubled during the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21) from a year earlier.

The number of eco-lodges and traditional houses have been surged 130 percent year on year over the first six months of the year, CHTN quoted Ebrahim Karimi, the provincial tourism chief, as saying on October 3.

The Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization has granted operating licenses to 13 of such lodging houses during the six months, he said but didn’t mention total number of eco-lodges operational in the province.

He expressed hope that some 200 eco-lodges to be inaugurated in the current Iranian year. 

In September, Karimi announced that the number of international arrivals in Golestan rose sharply by 113 percent in the first six months of the year.

The one-millennium-old, UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus is one of the most significant tourist destinations in Golestan province, which is neighboring the Caspian Sea.

AFM/MG