ATHENS The Director of Iran's Tourism Board Akbar Mohammad Hossein announced in Amman that large groups of Iranian tourists will be visiting Jordan in the coming weeks. The Iranian official was speaking at a meeting organized by the Jordan Travel Agents Association (JTAA) to discuss means of promoting tourism cooperation between Jordan and Iran, daily Jordan Times reported on Thursday. He said the Tourism Board supervises three kinds of trips to Jordan for Iranian tourists: visiting historic places, visiting religious sites and passing in transit through Jordan to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. He also noted that 20,000 Iranians have visited Jordan in the past four months and his country was planning to increase the number and help market Jordan as an Islamic tourist country.

Jordan's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Akel Biltaji urged tourists and travel agents in Jordan to provide all the necessary facilities and organize trips for tourists to visit the religious and historical places in Jordan. He noted that Jordan abounds with places that would be of interest to Iranian tourists, such as the tomb of Jaafar bin Abitaleb, one of the companions of the Prophet Mohammad (S), the tomb of Shua'eb, and other religious shrines.

According to the minister, tourism between Iran and Jordan is bound to increase, noting in this regard that Royal Jordanian Airline will organize charter flights during the next two months between Amman and Tehran and will commence regular flights in June. (IRNA)