TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated lodgings, crafts workshops, and sports clubs on Qeshm Island via a video conference on Monday.

Four handicraft workshops in different villages were among the projects, providing 40 jobs in an area of 800 square meters, CHTN reported.  

Some 100 billion rials ($2.3 million at the official exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar) have been invested in the workshops, the report added. 

A hotel worth 400 billion rials ($9.5 million), two diving and water sports clubs worth 160 billion rials ($3.8 million) as well as an eco-lodge unit were also inaugurated on the island. 

One of Iran’s seven free zones, Qeshm Island is a top holiday destination and a treasure trove of natural and ecological attractions in the Persian Gulf. The island is a heaven for eco-tourists as it embraces wide-ranging attractions such as the Hara marine forests and about 60 villages dotted mostly across its rocky coastlines.

The island also features geologically eye-catching canyons, hills, caves, and valleys, most of which are protected as part of the UNESCO-tagged Qeshm Island Geopark, itself a haven for nature-lovers.

Many travelers to Qeshm believe that the Stars Valley or Valley of Stars is a “must see”. It is home to bizarre-shaped gorges, tall pillars, canyon-like paths, hollowed-out spaces as well as the smooth and round stones, which have been formed by the wind and rain eroding the soil, rocks, and stones. Locals believe that a star once fell on this area thereby creating the rocky shapes that make it seem as if from another planet.

Aside from its geopark, sun, and sandy beaches, the island’s famed mangrove forests in the Hara Protected Area attract a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. Hara Protected Area is one of the five forests in Hormozgan Province and arguably the most important feature of Qeshm Geopark. With an area of 85,686 hectares, Hara is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The ecological importance of the forests has compelled local officials to build a new museum dedicated to showcasing the woodland’s ecological features.

ABU/AFM