Iran's tourism industry scrambles to catch up with demand
As Iranian President Hassan Rouhani improves relations with the West, Iranian officials announce they will build more hotels to meet the expected demand of foreign tourists.
Officials in Iran have announced plans to build 400 new three- and four-star hotels. Masoud Soltanifar, the head of the Iran Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization, announced that while there are more than 1,100 hotels in the country, only 130 of them rank three or four stars, and that during the next 10 years, 400 new hotels should be built. He said that the goal is to increase Iran’s visitors from 5 million to 20 million per year. Soltanifar made these comments in the northern city of Rasht during a meeting regarding the establishment of a tourism university in the city of Rasht.
The Iranian government is hoping to increase the country’s tourism revenue from its current $6 billion to $25 billion to $30 billion per year.
Iran ranks regularly in the top 10 list of countries with the highest number of tourist attractions and historical sites. However, Iran’s complicated relationship with the rest of the world and lack of attention to its tourism industry has resulted in Iran being ranked 48 out of 50 countries, according to a report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Reviving the tourism industry has been one of the most important promises of President Hassan Rouhani’s administration.
