ISFAHAN -- Director General of Iran Travel and Tourism Department in Isfahan Province Manouchehr Moyasseri said on Saturday that the number of tourists who visited the historical city of Isfahan increased during the current Iranian year which started in March 2000.

He told IRNA that over 100,000 foreign tourists visited the city from March to December 2000 compared to 32,000 in the corresponding period last year. Most of the tourists were from Germany, Japan, France and Spain, he said.

For the first time since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, some 80,000 tourist maps of the city illustrating the historical places both in English and Persian were distributed among the foreign tourists, he said.

Variety of historical monuments as well as the hospitality of the people could be considered as the most important factors in attracting foreign tourists in the region, he said.

Through hospitality we can remove the negative propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran,'' he said.

(IRNA)