TEHRAN – Some 290,000 foreign nationals visited Isfahan province, central Iran, over the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), a Foreign Ministry’s representative in Isfahan has said.

“A majority of the visitors came from Iraq and Afghanistan,” IRNA quoted Alireza Salarian as saying on Monday. 

The official described Isfahan’s tourism market as “weak”, adding “Some five million foreigners arrived in the country last year, 500,000 of them visited Isfahan.”

Isfahan is Iran’s top tourist destination for good reasons. Its profusion of tree-lined boulevards, Persian gardens and important Islamic buildings gives it a visual appeal unmatched by any other Iranian city, and the many artisans working here underpin its reputation as a living museum of traditional culture.

AFM/MQ/MG