TEHRAN, Sept 26 (NNN-ISNA) – More than 3.35 million foreign tourists visited Iran between Mar 21 and Sept 22, the first half of the Iranian calendar year, up by 38 percent, over the same period last year, an Iranian official said yesterday.
Ali Asghar Shalbafian, Iranian deputy minister of cultural heritage, handicrafts, and tourism, made the remarks at a press conference, in the Iranian capital, Tehran, ahead of World Tourism Day, which falls on Sept 27 (tomorrow), and the National Tourism Week.
The decision by Iran and Iraq to waive travel visas for their citizens has increased the number of Iraqi tourists travelling to Iran, the official said, adding, the rising number of Chinese tourists also contributed to the growth in the overall number of foreign tourists in Iran.
Meanwhile, the number of Azerbaijani tourists has dropped to 61,000 between Mar and Sept, compared with the yearly figure of 1.9 million in 2019, when Azerbaijan’s border remained open to Iran, ahead of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of Afghan tourists also decreased due to domestic issues, Shalbafian said.
