TEHRAN – A total of 206 tourism-related projects are currently underway across the northern province of Mazandaran, the provincial tourism chief has said. 

An investment value of 250 billion rials ($834,000) has been channeled into the projects, CHTN quoted Mehdi Izadi as saying on Wednesday. 

Hotels, guest houses, tourist complexes, and traditional restaurants are among the underway projects, the official added. 

The projects are expected to create more than 15000 job opportunities upon their completion, he noted. 

Sandwiched between the towering Alborz mountain range and the Caspian Sea, Mazandaran has a rich yet turbulent history. An early civilization flourished at the beginning of the first millennium BC in Mazandaran (Tabarestan).

Its insecure eastern and southeastern borders were crossed by Mongol invaders in the 13th and 14th centuries. Cossacks attacked the region in 1668 but were repulsed. It was ceded to the Russian Empire by a treaty in 1723, but the Russians were never secure in their occupation. The area was restored to Iran under the Qajar dynasty.

The northern section of the region consists of lowland alongside the Caspian and upland along the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains. Marshy backlands dominate the coastal plain, and extensive gravel fans fringe the mountains. The climate is permanently subtropical and humid, with very hot summers.

ABU/AFM