Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/TEHRAN: Iranian tourism professionals are attempting to lure visitors from countries such as Russia and China after western tourists, who flocked to Iran just a few years ago, were advised by their respective governments to stay away, forcing the Islamic republic’s fledgling tourism industry to stay afloat.
Western tourists have long been attracted to many ancient and Islamic sites, including millennia-old cultural sites and mountain scenery in Iran.
Western tourists to Iran
In 2015, western tourists started to return to Iran when it emerged from decades of isolation after signing a landmark nuclear deal with the United States and other major world powers.
Iran witnessed a flock of eight million tourists in 2019 as holidaymakers thronged sites such as Persepolis, Isfahan, and Shiraz, the jewels of ancient Persia.
Iran’s tourism industry’s rapid growth had raised hopes that the new arrival could reach 20 million by 2025, but a series of setbacks rapidly dashed the hope.
Farzaneh Mohammadi of state-owned Iran Railways said, “The backsliding started after the withdrawal of the US from the nuclear deal in 2018” and initiated reimposing crippling economic sanctions.
Anti-government demonstrations in 2019 swept the country. The following year, Iranian air defences downed a Ukrainian airliner shortly after takeoff from Tehran after mistaking it for a US cruise missile, dealing a heavy blow to confidence.
Mohammadi said, “Efforts were initiated to restore the situation, but recent events have dealt a fatal blow to tourism.” He referred to the wave of protests that spread nationwide after the custodial death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd, who was arrested for an alleged breach of Iran’s dress code for women, last September.
