TEHRAN—Over 23,000 foreign tourists visited Fars province during the first half of current Iranian year (March-September 2025).

Head of Fars Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department Heydarali Zahedian told IRNA on Monday that although Fars hosted tourists from different countries, Russia, China, France, Germany and Austria had the largest number of tourists who visited this province.

He said that visit of Hafezieh and Sa’dieh, the world-class complexes of Takht-e Jamshid (Persepolis) and Pasargadae, Eram Garden and the Sassanid Axis, and other cultural heritages of Fars have been on the travel plan of foreign tourists in Fars.

Pointing to the importance of rise in presence of foreign tourists in the prosperity of Fars tourism, he continued: “For this purpose, we held meetings with activists involved in attracting foreign tourists in which the strategies to attract more tourists, appropriate to the current conditions, were discussed and reviewed.”

Zahedian stated that one of the strategies to attract tourists is the presence of FAM tours (familiarization tours) to introduce the tourism potentials and positive features of traveling to Fars province.

Stating that FAM tours can be very effective in attracting the incoming tourists to the province, he added that inbound tourism activists focus on organizing FAM tours and  consult and negotiate with groups from different countries.

Zahedian announced that  negotiations have been so far concluded for the presence of  companies in the province, and about 20 foreign tourism activists, including 20 people, will travel to the province.

Fars heritage sites, including the Sassanid Landscape, the Persepolis and Pasargadae World Heritage Sites, Eram Botanical Garden, and the Izadkhast Caravanserai, has always been one of the main destinations for foreign tourists traveling to Iran.

Also, Shiraz’ high capacity in health tourism has made this city host foreign travelers from the regional countries.

KD