TEHRAN – Some 92 tourism-related projects have recently been inaugurated across Tehran province, the provincial tourism chief has said.

A budget of 12 trillion rials ($31.8 million) has been channeled into the projects, Parham Janfeshan said on Tuesday.

The projects include hotels, guest houses, eco-lodge units, tourist complexes, and travel agencies, the official added.

Over 1,000 job opportunities have been created upon the inauguration of the projects, he noted.

Moreover, 58 handicraft workshops have come on stream in the province, he mentioned.

The workshops received an investment budget of 340 billion rials ($850,000), the official stated.

The workshops have generated over 670 job opportunities for the locals, he said.

The first time Tehran is mentioned in historical accounts is in an 11th-century chronicle in which it is described as a small village north of Ray.

Ray, in which signs of settlement date from 6000 BC, is often considered Tehran’s predecessor. It became the capital city of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century but later declined with factional strife between different neighborhoods and the Mongol invasion of 1220.

Tehran has many to offer its visitors including Golestan Palace, Grand Bazaar, Treasury of National Jewels, National Museum of Iran, Glass & Ceramic Museum, Masoudieh Palace, Sarkis Cathedral, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and Carpet Museum of Iran, to name a few.

ABU/AM