TEHRAN ––A part of Iran’s traditional tourism route, which includes major provinces and well-known tourist destinations, has suffered the most damage over the past few months, an official with the tourism ministry has said.

Provinces hosting foreign tourists have been hit harder than others, as the recent unrest in the country has affected their target markets, Seyyed Mostafa Fatemi explained on Friday.

While foreign tourists are decreasing, the lack of mid-week holidays in recent months has caused domestic tourism to suffer as well, he noted.

Because most of the tourism advertising has been done through foreign platforms, now it has become a challenge due to the filters and restrictions imposed by the Iranian government on the Internet, which leads to the reduction in domestic and foreign tourism, he added.

However, as Arab tourists are mostly interested in health tourism and religious tourism, they make up a large share of foreign tourists in the country, the official mentioned.

Back in November, the Head of the Iranian Tour Operators Ebrahim Pourfaraj said that Iran was likely to lose the high season of travel in January.

Since many incoming tours have been canceled due to negative and false news about Iran published in the international media, the country will lose the high travel season in January, he explained.

Iran is currently not only being avoided by tourists from several European countries but also by Chinese and Russian tourists, the expert added.

Pourfaraj also announced that tourism in Iran had entered a fourth consecutive year of recession.

Despite efforts to revive tourism, Iran is still experiencing a recession in tourism, he added.

Since the Iranian year of 1398, the country’s tourism suffered from various upheavals including the U.S. sanctions aimed to cripple Iran’s economy, flash floods in March 2019, the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the [mistakenly] downing of a Ukrainian jetliner, and ultimately the coronavirus pandemic, he explained.

Iran’s tourism situation was predicted to improve by 2023, but after recent unrest in the country and the subsequent warnings to banning travel to Iran by several European countries, tourism once again slipped into a recession, he noted.

Iran’s presence in international spaces and a serious commitment to foreign exhibitions are two factors in getting out of this recession, he mentioned.

Last November, the expert said that the restoration of tourism flow to the country is very important for Iranian tour operators and travel insiders.

Furthermore, Pourfaraj said that the Islamic Republic must rebuild trust in the global tourism market, referring to the high levels of health security and vaccination that the country has achieved against the coronavirus.

He said some of his colleagues have commenced talks in various tourism fields with target markets in China, Japan, Russia, and some European countries.

As mentioned by Pourfaraj, Iran has done its best to maintain contact with global tourism markets and companies that worked with Iran in the past, especially since virtual communication and meetings have thrived.

Long shunned by Western travelers, the Islamic Republic has steadily stepped-up efforts to use tourism, over the past couple of years, to help promote its international image battered by endless opposition mostly from the U.S.

ABU/ AM