TEHRAN –The northern province of Golestan has turned into Iran’s major agritourism hub, an official with the tourism ministry has announced.

“Golestan province offers a great deal of potential for tourism and is the country’s center for agritourism,” CHTN quoted Nader Zeinali as saying on Saturday.

Last August, a memorandum of understanding was signed at the provincial level to help develop agritourism across the lush green province.

The MOU also aimed to facilitate issuing agritourism permits to selected farms, identifying and developing tourism capacities in the agriculture industry, monitoring the performance of certified farms, and forming advisory committees, and working as a team that will assist the agricultural sector in attracting domestic and foreign tourists.

Back in July, provincial tourism chief Ahmad Tajari announced that agritourism is being developed in the northern province of Golestan by launching new tourist farms.

“The province has issued seven agritourism permits in less than a year, which is expected to attract more tourists.”

Such permits are granted to eligible farm owners in the country to launch agritourism businesses, aiming to set certain standards in a move to ensure the quality of such services in the country.

A total of 720 billion rials ($2.4 million) has been invested in these tourist farms, which are expected to generate almost 120 job opportunities, the official added.

As tourism and agriculture are the two axes to the development of the province, their combination serves a crucial role in creating jobs and economic prosperity, particularly in the villages, 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 – which is of high architectural importance as an exemplar and innovative design of the early-Islamic-era architecture.

Narratives say the majestic tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond. The UNESCO comments that Gonbad-e Qabus bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.

ABU/MG