TEHRAN – The number of foreign tourists visiting the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran rose by 81 percent during the past Iranian year 1398 (ended March 19) while spending rose by almost a quarter, according to a senior provincial official.

“International vacationers in Mazandaran province increased from 86,000 in 1397 to 106,000 in 1398, and spending rose by 25 percent year on year,” IRNA quoted Mofid Qolami as saying on Tuesday.

The official noted that revenues from foreign travelers rose from $129 million in 1397 to $160 million in the subsequent year.

He also attached great importance to tourism development and related infrastructure in the province, saying that all (provincial organizations) should assist the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts to achieve this goal. 

In January, the provincial tourism department announced a total of twenty two tourism projects, worth 2,515 billion rials (some $60 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) had been inaugurated in Mazandaran during the first nine months of 1398.

The projects included building hotels and hotel apartments, travel agencies, eco-lodge guest houses as well as recreational and tourist facilities, which generated some 1,500 jobs directly or indirectly.

Stretched along the Caspian Sea and Alborz mountain range, Mazandaran is a popular destination for domestic holidaymakers and it is home to more than 3,500 villages and rural areas, hosting millions of domestic night-stays in year.

The latest available data show eight million tourists visited the Islamic Republic during the first ten months of the past Iranian calendar year.

AFM/MG