TEHRAN – Tehran municipality has formulated several plans and programs to make the Iranian capital ready to host new year travelers during the Noruz holidays. 

For the new Iranian year 1401 (starting on March 21), various programs have been set up to promote Tehran tourism, an official with Tehran Municipality said on Friday.  

The city will be equipped with tourist buses with the presence of tour guides, particularly in areas with tourist centers, and free tours will be offered, ILNA quoted Mehrshad Kazemi as saying. 

Most of the recreational, historical and cultural centers and museums are scheduled to be open to the public during the holidays, he mentioned. 

Meanwhile, carnivals featuring fictional figures from Iranian folklore, such as Uncle Noruz, the herald of spring, and his companion Haji Firuz, will be held and traditional rituals will be performed throughout the city, he added. 

He also noted that in collaboration with Kordestan province, some 300 Kurdish daf players will perform on Tabiat Bridge in the heart of the capital. 

Milad Tower will also host an ethnic exhibition, and Iranian tribes will set up booths in different parts of Tehran with ethnic products, he mentioned. 

It is not the first year that Tehran offers special programs for Noruz travelers, as attempts had been made in previous years to position Tehran as a tourist destination, but the outbreak of the coronavirus and restrictions on travel in the past two years thwarted efforts, he concluded.

Back in January, the deputy tourism minister announced that the Iranian government should get fully prepared for a surge and potential tsunami of tourism when COVID-restrictions are over.
 
“Despite not knowing how the coronavirus outbreak will evolve in the future, we ought to plan on hosting tourists during the upcoming holidays of Noruz (Iranian new year).” 

Travel and tourism will increase as vaccination becomes a priority around the world and lifestyles align, the official added.

Hugging the lower slopes of the magnificent, snowcapped Alborz Mountains, Tehran is much more than a chaotic jumble of concrete and crazy traffic blanketed by a miasma of air pollution. This is the nation's dynamic beating heart and the place to get a handle on modern Iran and what its future will likely be.

The metropolis has many to offer its visitors including Golestan Palace, Grand Bazaar, Treasury of National Jewels, National Museum of Iran, Glass & Ceramic Museum, Masoudieh Palace, Sarkis Cathedral, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Carpet Museum of Iran, to name a few.

The first time Tehran is mentioned in historical accounts is in an 11th-century chronicle in which it is described as a small village north of Ray. It became the capital city of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century but later declined with factional strife between different neighborhoods and the Mongol invasion of 1220.

ABU/AFM