“Tourism Industry in Iran Needs Greater Attention”

Iranian lawmaker Zahra Saeidi has highlighted the importance of tourism sector and the social, cultural, economic and political harms caused in the absence of due attention to the expansion of the industry.

She blamed a lack of theoretical foundations concordant with the country’s cultural framework as the main problem slowing down the development of Iran’s tourism industry.

Saeidi said undoubtedly, Iran is among the world’s main tourist destinations thanks to its ancient history, rich culture and cultural heritage, numerous irresistible natural tourist attractions and climatic diversity.

In case of doing thoughtful and careful planning, tourism industry will become a lucrative and reliable source of income for the country, she noted, according to a Farsi report by the website of the Iranian Parliament’s Research Centre.

She added, “Enormous stress is laid in Iran on achieving and pursuing the targets and policies of the Resistance Economy, set and formulated by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Creating jobs and promoting entrepreneurship, using the country’s human resources as well as indigenous capacities, are among the main principles laid down in the strategies of resilient economy.”

“Given the present bottlenecks delaying the development of other domestic industries, and in view of the incumbent government’s plan to reduce reliance on oil revenue, the domestic tourism industry, more than any other time in istory, requires thoughtful planning, enactment of effective administrative laws and establishment of modern related infrastructure.”

She said a comparison between Iran’s tourism revenue and the global average income generated by the industry, as confirmed by the figures of the World Tourism Organization, indicates that the country has failed to achieve and receive the status and share it deserves in this sector.

“Iran has difficulty attracting foreign tourists. The country’s domestic tourists are also faced with a host of problems in their trips.”

Saeidi said currently, investors are faced with a large number of problems for funding Iranian tourism projects, adding construction of hotel in Iran, as the most important infrastructure in the industry, involves heavy costs such as the price of land, construction expenses and taxes imposed by municipalities.

She called on the government to help remove the obstacles to making investment in the sector and constructing hotels.