TEHRAN-The vaccination of hoteliers and hotel staff against coronavirus has reached 70 percent to date, the head of the Association of Iranian Hoteliers has announced.

Vaccination has been widespread in most Iranian provinces, but in total, more than 70% of all hotel staff has received both vaccine doses, as well as a vaccination card, ISNA quoted Jamshid Hamzehzadeh as saying on Sunday.

Following the lifting of travel restrictions for people who were vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine, and the government’s decision to resume issuing tourist visas, hotels around the country are ready to welcome domestic and foreign travelers in near future, the official added.

With the vaccination of hotel staff, the hotels are back to accepting tourists, possibly marking the start of a new era in the country’s tourism industry since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, he explained.

There is hope that domestic and international tourism will bounce back in Iran and the hospitality industry will be compensated for some of the damages caused by the pandemic, he mentioned.

He also noted that Iranian hotels have lost 202 trillion rials (some $4.8 billion at the official exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar) of potential revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two-thirds of the hotel staff have lost their jobs as well, he added.

Earlier in September, Hamzehzadeh announced that all employees of accommodation centers across Iran are scheduled to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“To vaccinate staffs of all accommodation centers, including eco-lodges, apartment hotels, and guest houses, as well as hotels, more coordination with the Ministry of Health is needed,” he added.

Back in July ISNA reported that the tourism industry of the country has suffered a loss of some 320 trillion rials ($7.6 billion at the official exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar) since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic has also ruined more than 44,000 jobs in a once budding travel sector of the country, the report added.

Experts believe accommodation centers suffered the most as a result of the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran and its subsequent unemployment and financial losses.

Optimistic forecasts, however, expect Iran to achieve a tourism boom after coronavirus contained, believing its impact would be temporary and short-lived for a country that ranked the third fastest-growing tourism destination in 2019.

ABU/AFM