TEHRAN – The director-general of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department of Kerman province has said 324 eco-lodge units have been inaugurated in this province until the end of the past Iranian calendar year (March 19).

In an interview with IRNA on Tuesday, Fereydoun Fa'ali added: "Last year, nine eco-lodge units were inaugurated, increasing the accommodation capacity of Kerman province. Also, 10 agreements in principle were issued to launch eco-lodge units."

Referring to the efforts made to improve the quality of ecotourism services in the province, the official went on to say: "A short-term tourism course was held attended by 30 persons to empower local communities.”

"Meanwhile, seven courses for the empowerment of tourism workers and five short-term tourism courses were held, in which 205 and 95 managers and employees of tourism facilities in this province attended, respectively", he continued.

Building two hotels and an apartment hotel was one of the most important activities of the department in the last year, he said.

“Moreover, 122,496 people visited tourist attractions of this province last year, of whom 3,434 were foreign tourists. The tourism industry has suffered a lot from the coronavirus, however, during the last year we tried to support the tourism sector against the damage caused by the pandemic.

With seven world-registered monuments, 700 national monuments, and thousands of historical and natural attractions Kerman province is one of the important tourist destinations in the country.