TEHRAN - Iranian expatriates have invested some $291 million in the homeland’s travel & leisure industry over the past two years, Iran’s deputy tourism minister said on Tuesday.

“During the years of the 13th [Iranian] government (since President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August 2021), 291 million dollars of foreign investment has been attracted from Iranians living abroad in the field of tourism,” Ali-Asghar Shalbafian said.

The official noted that the amount of investment in the country’s tourism by Iranian immigrants has become ten times more than that made a decade ago.

“This amount of investment from Iranians living abroad in the country's tourism shows a more than 10-fold growth compared to a decade ago, which shows the welcome of Iranians living abroad to invest in the field of tourism.”

Utilizing the capacity of Iranians living abroad is on the agenda for the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, Shalbafian added.

“One of the most important programs is to identify Iranian expatriates from each province to invest in the tourism of that province. So far, the provinces of Fars, Bushehr, Mazandaran, Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi, and East Azarbaijan have used this capacity.”

“Moreover, our compatriots living abroad can help to introduce Iran’s tourism capacities to overseas tourists, the use of such capacity is on the agenda.”

Earlier this year, President Raisi reaffirmed his government’s obligation to defend the rights of Iranians abroad. “We consider Iranians abroad as our citizens. We believe that Iranians residing abroad have rights, and the government has responsibilities [towards them], just as the government has obligations towards Iranians living inside the country,” the president said at a gathering of non-resident Iranians in Tehran on March 15.

The president added that safeguarding the Iranian identity is a paramount issue for Iranians living abroad, stressing that children of Iranians living outside the country should not be oblivious to their Iranian identity. 

Millions of Iranians live in different countries across the world. Iranian officials, including President Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, have repeatedly advocated the need to support them and resolve issues facing them.

Last year at a summit in Doha, Raisi described the Iranians living abroad as "assets", calling on them to make an effort to preserve the culture of their homeland while living abroad. He noted that the Islamic Republic has taken measures to remove obstacles to the presence of Iranians residing in other countries.

AFM