TEHRAN - After winning collective UNESCO labels for its Persian gardens and caravanserais, Iran is now considering the same registrations for its top mansions, madrasas, public bathhouses, and pigeon towers, a tourism official said on Saturday.

“The Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts has adopted a policy to nominate chains of similar properties such as historical houses, madrasas, public bathhouses, and pigeon towers for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage list, IRNA quoted Seyyed Mahdi Mousavi-Movahed as saying on Saturday.

The advantage of a chain nomination is that by a possible registration on the UNESCO list, we may add arrays of the same properties to the country’s must-see destinations, the official noted.

Last month, a selection of 54 centuries-old roadside inns won a UNESCO label under the name: The Persian Caravanserai. Moreover, the UN body in 2011 gave a seal of approval to the Persian Garden, which includes nine gardens in as many provinces.

The Islamic Republic expects to reap a bonanza from its numerous tourist spots such as bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, mausoleums, churches, towers, and mansions, of which 27 are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Iran reached some 2.93 million between January and July 2023, according to the latest United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer.

Although the country’s performance as a tourism destination is still far below that of 2019, which was before the start of the Covid pandemic, it is improving slightly compared to last year's statistics, ISNA reported.

However, the average statistics of Iran’s tourism from January to August 2023 is 50% lower than the same period in 2019 based on the barometer that tracks the sector’s post-pandemic recovery throughout 2023 up to the end of July. Accordingly, Iran attracted 181,423 foreign travelers in January; 327, 816 people in February; 363,547 in March; 381.769 in April, 537,837 in May; 551.142 in June; and 590, 350 in July.

Another statistic compiled by Iran’s tourism ministry indicates the country saw 3.35 million tourist arrivals in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), which soars 38 percent year on year.

AFM