SHIRAZ -- Fars Province is potentially one of the most attractive tourism poles of Iran, but the province is also in need of close attention of the tourism authorities and the Cultural Inheritage Organization's further technical surveys and assistance, according to the officials and technicians.

In an interview with IRNA, it was expected that during President Khatami's upcoming visit of the Fars Province, some of the still undiscovered potentials of this culturally-rich province would be highlighted. That, they hope, will further boost the tourism industry and improve the economic condition of the people of this province.

Over 30 percent of the country's cultural inheritage sites are located in Fars Province.

They include various historic monuments, such as the Persepolis palaces complex, religious monuments, like the Shahcheragh, tombs of the literary giants of Iran, like Hafez and Sa'di, and many natural resources.

Yet, the province, and particularly its major cities, such as Shiraz, suffer from an insufficient number of five star hotels and residential centers, little or no effort for introduction of its less famous attractions to the Iranian and foreign tourists, little care taken of the some of the historic sites and lack of proper tourism facilities near them. All these factors have led to insufficient growth of the tourism industry in Fars Province.

The province has already 300 established historical monuments and 800 religious sites, that have been frequently visited by Iranian travellers and foreign tourists.

The holy mausoleum of Shahcheragh that is visited by hundreds of thousands of pious Shias from different countries annually is the most outstanding religious monument of the Fars Province. The complex is potentially a fine spot for investments in order to boost the Islamic tourism industry.

The Persepolis Palaces Complex, better known as Takht-e Jamshid in Iran, is one of the world's formally registered site as the shared cultural inheritage of the mankind.

The complex includes some of the most famous ancient monuments of the world, including the gate of all nations, the Apadana Palace, the Tacher Palace, the Hundred Columns Palace, a glorious vast balcony and a huge size basement. Each of these monuments are a symbol of the architecture type of a special era of the Achaemenid Empire.

The Pasargadae Complex, situated near the Persepolis palaces, includes the tomb of Cyrus the Great and his public gatherings palace, the Pasargadae fire temple, a huge size stone tower, and the water ways and pools around these palaces and monuments. They each possess a highly important position on the list of the cultural inheritance sites of Iran.

The Zandiyyeh Castle Complex which was constructed during the reign of Karim Khan, the powerful Zand dynasty king in Shiraz, is comprised of the king's residential and administrative headquarters, a private and a public bath, many caravansaries (old world hotels), a magnificent mosque and a traditional bazaar, that the latter two are still active.

These monuments are all situated in the same area and actually form a network that was once capable of meeting all the demands of a dynasty, whose most outstanding personality trait was their closeness to the nation, particularly the poor social classes.

The Bishapour ancient city, on the west side of Kazeroun city, the ancient monuments of Firouz Abad, constructed during the Sassanids era, including the place of Ardeshir, the ruins of the ancient city of Gour, tower of a fire temple, the Daughter Castle and the stone engravings of Tangab are among the other discovered historical monument of this province.

Among the natural attractions of Fars Province one can refer to over 120 preserved natural, and man-made parks of the province, such as the Bamoo natural resort on the north of Shiraz, Arzhan and Parishan natural parks, some sixty kilometers to the south of Shiraz, and Bahram-e Gour resort, where this famous Sassanid king once used to hunt deer, near Neyriz.

There are also the Hermoud natural resort near Lar, and the protected wild beasts' resort of Bakhtegan near Neyriz city, that is 805,000 hectares vast and is home to most types of the wild creatures whose living habitat has for many centuries been the Plato of Iran.

The natural fabulous resorts of the Fars Province also include the Arzhan, Kaftar, Bakhtegan and Parishan lakes, the lake of Doroudzan Dam, the beautiful maroon waterfall and the magnificent Lost Paradise resort.

Yet, getting access to many of these unique resorts is very difficult for the tourists due to the lack of appropriate roads and also little or no information provided about them to let the potential visitors know about them.

There are also no hotels or recreational centers near most of these magnificent sites, according to the provincial authorities.

According to the head of the Fars Province branch of the Iran Tours and Tourism Organization, there are currently 18 first class hotels, with 2,002 beds, as well as 125 second class hotels offering services to those who travel to this province.

Alireza Qa'edian added, ten modern residential centers with206 beds are now being constructed and equipped in Shiraz and the other major cities of the province.

It is a timely, but naturally, barely satisfactory move. The moves made by the Cultural Inheritage Organization (CIO) during the recent years, including the establishment of 470 cultural inheritage societies in the province that have over 2,800 enthusiastic members, most of whom are experts, and moves made for preservation of the ancient monuments are praiseworthy, but barely sufficient.

The provincial authorities argue that the cultural capabilities of Fars Province have turned this part of Iran to the main center of the international gatherings of the ongoing dialogue among civilizations.

According to the Iranian Statistics Organization's reports, during 1378 (March 21, 1999 to March 21, 2000) more than 98,000 foreign tourists visited the historical sites of this province.

The number of these visitors increased from 36,000 during the first three months of the past Iranian year to 52,000 during the corresponding period of the current year.

(IRNA)