TEHRAN – The Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to pursue the issue of damage the country’s tourism sector has suffered after the U.S. introduced restrictions on its visa waiver program in 2015.

The CHTHO has asked travel agencies, hotels, and relevant businesses to submit until March 11 any information about their probable losses, the Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday.

According the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, citizens of the 38, mainly European, countries in the U.S. who were previously able to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa, must obtain one if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria since March 1, 2011.

Iran has launched extensive plans to bolster its tourism sector. Under the 2025 Tourism Vision Plan, the country is expecting to increase the number of tourism arrivals from 4.8 million in 2014 to 20 million in 2025.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Iran has been more than double that of the global average since the implementation of the nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, the CHTHO announced in Oct. 2016.

PHOTO: Tourists visit the magnificent ruins of Persepolis, southern Iran, in an undated photo.

AFM/MG