TEHRAN – Iran’s tourism body is counting on the private sector to invest more in the country’s hospitality sector, encouraging it to take up the slack as moves to cede state-run tourism affairs to privately-owned entrepreneurs and entities are underway.

Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization Director Zahra Ahmadipour on Monday called for greater role of the private sector to jumpstart tourism in the country that will result in creating jobs and generating revenues, CHTN reported.

“Tourism will be flourishing through the [comprehensive] involvement of the private sector, not the government,” Ahmadipour said in an address to a provincial assembly during her visit to Kordestan province. 

“The private sector should handle the [tourism and hospitality] affairs, while government bodies should only act as facilitators and oversee the implementation of [their] regulations,” she added.

“The growth and prosperity of the tourism industry is a principle,” she stressed, adding that the private sector has played a ‘good’ role in the growth and development of the sector and it needs backing from the government.

Elsewhere in her remarks, Ahmadipour highlighted the need for more cooperation between the two sectors saying: “Identifying problems and finding solutions to them requires public and private sectors to boost partnerships and remain committed to the existing rules to overcome the problems, and if there is a legal malfunction, it should be addressed.”

The sum of private investments in restoration of cultural heritage structures have witnessed a staggering 449% rise over the past four years compared to the previous records, IRNA reported earlier in May.

The report added that some 833 billion rials (about $21 million) have been channeled into the restoration projects of historical relics since incumbent President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in 2013.

Iran has launched extensive plans to bolster its tourism sector. Under its 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.

PHOTO: An interior view of Malek al-Tojjar boutique hotel that has been repurposed from a historic mansion in Yazd, central Iran.

AFM/MG