TEHRAN - A total of 31 tourism-related projects worth 10.7 trillion rials (about $255 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) are being implemented across the northwestern West Azarbaijan province, the provincial tourism chief has said. 

Hotels, hotel apartments, travel agencies, eco-lodge guest houses, traditional restaurants as well as recreational and tourist facilities are amongst the projects, which is aimed to create job opportunities for 1430 people, CHTN quoted Jalil Jabbari as saying on Wednesday. 

Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan in August announced that Iran’s travel sector had suffered a loss of 12 trillion rials (some $2.85 billion) since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic; however, he mentioned that all the tourism businesses across the country would have the capacity to fully resume their activities both in domestic and foreign markets.

“Many tourism projects have been completed, or are being implemented, showing that a very good capacity has been created in the field of tourism in the country and [this trend] should not be stopped,” he explained.

Mounesan went on to say that 2,451 tourism-related projects worth 1,370 trillion rials (around $32 billion) are being implemented across the country that signals a prosperous future for Iran’s tourism sector.

West Azarbaijan embraces a variety of lush natural sceneries, cultural heritage sites, and museums including the UNESCO sites of Takht-e Soleyman and Qareh Klise (St. Thaddeus Monastery), Teppe Hasanlu, and the ruined Bastam Citadel.

The region has been the seat of several ancient civilizations. It formed part of Urartu and later of Media. In the 4th century BC, it was conquered by Alexander the Great and was named Atropatene after one of Alexander’s generals, Atropates, who established a small kingdom there. The area returned to the Persian (Iranian) rule under the Sasanians in the 3rd century CE. 

ABU/AFM