TEHRAN –A total of seven tourism-related projects are currently underway across Ramian county, northern Golestan province, CHTN reported on Monday.

An investment value of 698 billion rials ($2.3 million), has been channeled into the projects, Ramian’s tourism chief announced.

Eco-lodge units, hotels, and motels are among the underway projects, Alireza Hesarnoi said.

The projects are expected to create more than 140 job opportunities upon their completion, the official added.

In terms of natural attractions, cultural heritage, and handicrafts, Ramian has great potential, and to make the most of this potential, the tourism infrastructure needs to be developed, he noted.

Golestan is reportedly embracing some 2,500 historical and natural sites, with UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus – a one-millennium-old brick tower – amongst its most famous. Narratives say the tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond. The UNESCO comments that the tower bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.

Underway tourism-related projects across Iran

Last September, the former Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan said that over 2,400 tourism-related projects were being implemented across the country with a total estimated cost of 1,370 trillion rials (around $32 billion).

“This volume of investment indicates that investors recognize the growing tourism sector as a new economy in the country and have high hopes for it,” he added.

He also noted that ecotourism has developed rapidly and the number of eco-lodge units increased from 400 units in 2017 to over 2,000 units at the beginning of 2020.

The tourism industry of the country was growing and progressing well but unfortunately, it has faced the coronavirus outbreak, which brought the industry to a standstill, he added.

ABU/MG