TEHRAN – World Tourism Organization statistics indicate a significant decline in the number of foreign tourists arriving in Iran from 2019 onward, ISNA reported on Saturday.

Between 1994 and 2019, the number of tourists entering the Islamic Republic grew by a gentle slope, the report added.

The number of tourists entering Iran started decreasing at the beginning of 2019 when American sanctions against Iran were intensified, followed by national unrest during the eighth Iranian calendar month of Aban (October 23 - November 22).

Some two million arrivals were registered in the mentioned year, showing a fall in the number of foreign tourists compared to the previous years.

People from Africa, East Asia, and the Pacific region have shown the least interest in visiting Iran in recent years, according to a chart that tracks foreign tourists’ nationalities. The Middle East (West Asia), Europe, and South Asia are Iran's main sources of foreign tourists, according to the barometer.

Sea trips to Iran have also been very low in the past two decades and have almost reached zero in the past four years.

Iran’s international tourism data registered with the World Tourism Organization has served as the basis for these charts and figures.

In the current situation and the recent unrest in the country, where many countries have warned against travel to Iran, many tourism activists and experts predict that this stagnation will continue.

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.

Experts believe even before the pandemic, Iran’s tourism was already grappling with some challenges, on top of those Western “media propaganda” aimed at scaring potential travelers away from the Islamic Republic. They say Iran is still somehow “unknown” to many potential travelers due to such a “media war.”

Before the COVID pandemic, Iran's tourism had constantly been growing, reaching more than eight million visitors in the Iranian calendar year 1398 (started March 21, 2019). That surge, however, helped prejudices to become thick and thin.

However, Iran’s trump card is that the country benefits from a wide variety of travel destinations ranging from seacoasts and lush green woods to towering mountains and harsh deserts. As a wallet-friendly destination with hospitable people, Iran has long been a desired destination for nature lovers, birdwatchers, powder chasers, culture devotees, pilgrims, museum-goers, foodies, adventurers, and medical travelers, to name a few.

Mass COVID-19 vaccinations, consecutive fam tours for foreign tour operators, easing travel procedures, and fresh strategies, altogether, suggest Iran is determined to experience a tourism rebound with a greater reliance on its numerous tourist spots of which 26 are UNESCO World Heritage, above all, its welcoming people.

ABU/AM