TEHRAN – Iran’s tourism minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan on Monday inaugurated eleven eco-lodges during his visit to the eastern South Khorasan province.

The private sector has invested 103 billion rails (some $2.5 million) and received 20 billion rials (some $475,000) in bank loans to complete the projects, IRNA reported.

Iran’s tourism ministry has set a target to help build 2,000 eco-lodges by 2021, believing such guest houses could cater to sustainable development and job creation in the countryside and rural areas.

“Each eco-lodge unit averagely generates jobs for seven to eight people so that the scheme could create 160,000 jobs,” Mounesan said in 2018.

Varied natural setting of the culturally-diverse country never disappoints visitors when it comes to eco-tourism, sightseeing and even tribal tourism as it is home to many regional people including ones with Turk and Arab elements in addition to the Kurds, Baloch, Bakhtyari, Lurs, and other smaller minorities such as Armenians, Assyrians, Jews, and others.

AFM/MG