TEHRAN–A total of 23 tourism-related projects are scheduled to be inaugurated in the northern province of Golestan on the occasion of Government Week (August 24-30), the provincial tourism chief has said.

A budget of 506 billion rials ($1.7 million) has been channeled into the projects, Rahman Farmani explained on Monday.

The projects include an eco-lodge unit, apartment hotel, travel agency, and tourism farm in different cities across the province, the official added.

Some 130 job opportunities are estimated to be generated upon the inauguration of the projects, he noted.

Back in May, the official announced that the Iranian government has allocated some 1.1 trillion rials ($3.7 million) to the tourism and handicrafts sectors of the province.

This budget is set aside for 55 projects in the areas of tourism, cultural heritage, and handicrafts, he mentioned.

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.

ABU/AM