Travelogues Can Boost Tourism

Sarzamin-e Man [My Land], an Iranian journal dedicated to cultural and geographical studies, in its August issue ran a report on Nasir Khusraw and his travelogue. What comes below is a translation of the article the monthly magazine carried:

“How long are you going to drink wine which takes a toll on your mental health? You should be sober […] What you do should enrich your wisdom.”

“Where can I find wisdom?”

“A seeker will be finally a treasure finder,” said the wise man, pointing at the Qibla [the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca which a Muslim needs to face while praying]

Nasir Khusraw [a Persian poet, philosopher, scholar, traveler and one of the greatest writer in Persian literature (1004 – l088 C.E.)] has stated the dream he had one night when he was 40 years old transformed his life drastically, sending him on a years-long trip which took him from Asia Minor,Aleppo, Tripoli, and Palestine to Tunisia, Sudan and Egypt, a journey which produced an invaluable travelogue consisting of meticulous details about the history and culture of these regions.

His travelogue is a treasure trove of information for today’s researcher, a travelogue which underlines the fact that a journey is not just moving from point A to point B. Rather, it is a process of observing, recording, exploring and extracting something good by which you can be remembered. From the perspective of Iranian history a journey amounts to an opportunity to experience and broaden one’s knowledge.

During the 3^rd Nasir Khusraw Festival which closed on August 8, 2014, the secretary of the festival Reza Dabirinejad touched on the importance of travel, and said, “Writing a travelogue offers an opportunity to boost tourism, because a matter cannot be palpable unless it is recorded. It’s the vehicle of expression that turns travel into a cognitive, expressive, and communicative concept and lends it cultural and scientific value. Such a process will take travel up to a high level.”