TEHRAN – Ilam needs to improve its tourism infrastructure in order to grow, the deputy governor of the western province has said.

A significant part of Ilam’s growth can be attributed to improvements in its tourism infrastructure, Mohammad Sobhan Hassani said on Monday. 

In this regard, private investors should be welcomed and supported, he added. 

Home to almost half of Iran’s UNESCO sites, western Iran is a land of hospitable people, wild extremes, and wilder history, and it may be an independent traveler's adventure playground. The region also witnessed the rise and fall of many great empires once bordering Mesopotamia, Ottoman Turkey, and Czarist Russia.

From the fecund Caspian coast to the stark, mountainous northern borders, and the crumbling desert ruins of the southern plains, the region hosts everything from paddy fields to blizzards to Persian gardens.

ABU/