TEHRAN – Visits by international travelers to historical sites in Fars province rose 12 percent during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21) compared to the same period a year earlier.

The Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization has registered over 253,000 visits to the province’s museums and historical sites by foreign nationals, which shows 12 percent growth year on year, provincial tourism chief Mosayeb Amiri said on Monday, CHTN reported.

Based on the CHHTO statistics, French, Italian and German travelers constituted respectively the highest number of visits to the historical sites, Amiri said.

UNESCO-registered Persepolis, Naqsh-e Rostam (an ancient necropolis near Persepolis), and Hafezieh (a memorial garden where illustrious Persian poet Hafez is laid to rest) were named the most-visited sites, respectively receiving 35,579; 28,922; and 24,967 foreign sightseers, the official explained.

The ancient region of Fars, also spelled Pars, or Persis, was the heart of the Achaemenian Empire (550–330 BC), which was founded by Cyrus the Great and had its capital at Pasargadae. Darius I the Great moved the capital to nearby Persepolis in the late 6th or early 5th century BC.

Its capital city, Shiraz, is home to some of the country’s most magnificent buildings and sights. Increasingly, it draws more and more foreign and domestic sightseers flocking into this provincial capital which was the literary capital of Persia during the Zand dynasty from 1751 to 1794.

A total of 2,030,523 million foreign nationals visited the Islamic Republic during spring, which corresponds to the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year, showing a 40.66 percent increase year on year, according to data from the Organization.

AFM/MG