TEHRAN – An agreement in principle has recently been reached to launch a tourism complex in Khafr county, the southern Fars province.  

A sum of 100 billion rials ($2.3 million at the official exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar) will be invested in the project by the private sector, Khafr’s tourism chief said on Sunday.  

“The complex aims to boost tourism in the region and encourage potential investors to invest in the sector,” Ali Asghar Taheri stated. 

A swimming pool, a playground, 17 36-meter residential suites, and 10 pergolas will be part of the complex, he noted.

Covering an area of one hectare, the complex is expected to generate some 20 job opportunities upon its completion, the official added.  

Earlier in May, tourism minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan inaugurated 28 cultural heritage-and-tourism-related projects across Fars province. 

The projects worth 7.3 trillion rials (about $173 million) include hotels, apartment hotels, traditional restaurants, agritourism unites, museums, eco-lodge units, and rural guesthouses. 

The ancient region of Fars also spelled Pars, or Persis was the heart of the Achaemenian Empire (550–330 BC), which was founded by Cyrus the Great and had its capital at Pasargadae. Darius I the Great moved the capital to nearby Persepolis in the late 6th or early 5th century BC.

The capital city of Shiraz is home to some of the country’s most magnificent buildings and sights. Increasingly, it draws more and more foreign and domestic sightseers flocking into this provincial capital which was the literary capital of Persia during the Zand dynasty from 1751 to 1794.

ABU/AFM