TEHRAN – Iran’s Revitalization and Utilization Fund for Historical Places has inked a memorandum of understanding with the Spanish hospitality company Paradores in a bid to refurbish some historical structures across Iran and repurpose them into lodging facilities.

Signed by Iranian fund’s director Mohammadreza Pouyandeh and the Spanish company’s president Angela Alarco Canosa, copies of the agreement were exchanged in Tehran on Monday, with Spanish Ambassador Eduardo Lopez Busquets and Juan Carlos Sanchez Gálvez, an official with Paradores in attendance, Saabta reported.

Based on the MOU, the sides agreed to encourage Iranian and Spanish tourists to travel to each other’s country. Organizing workshops, conducting inspections, and consulting over restoration projects were other issues the two sides agreed upon.

The Spanish firm runs a chain of luxury hotel accommodation in castles, palaces, convents, monasteries, fortresses and other historic buildings.

Other European investors have recently expressed their readiness to fund the restoration and repurposing of historical houses in the cities of Kerman, Kashan, and Isfahan.

To help restore ancient buildings and make them profitable, an initiative by the fund provides opportunity for the private sector to cede historical buildings as long as they are repurposed into hotels, restaurants or lodging places.

Iran is home to a large number of old mansions and buildings, which can contribute to its budding tourism industry if managed appropriately and restored carefully.

PHOTO: Iranian tourism official Mohammadreza Pouyandeh (L) shakes hands with Spanish Paradores official Juan Carlos Sanchez Gavez in Tehran on May 1, 2017. Spanish Ambassador Eduardo Lopez Busquets is seen in the picture as well.

AFM/MG