Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Aiming to increase the inflow of tourists to the country, Iran is undertaking incentive measures. Now, the country’s hotels, especially the ones operating in regions, are offering new discounts to the visitors.

Mohammad-Ali Farrokh, head of Iranian Hotels Association said due to the falling temperatures, hotels in some regions of Iran are offering discounts, which in some cases reach 70 percent.

Iran’s tourism sector has been paralyzed for long due to the international sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear energy program, though the sanctions did not directly target the tourism industry.

However, the normalization of relations with the world countries following the nuclear deal gave a new boost to the tourism development in country. The country’s hotels, taking advantage of this situation, offer alluring discounts to attract more visitors.

Tehran has recently observed the inflow of foreign officials, who visit Iran to restore the ties with the Islamic Republic. As the number of foreigners visiting Tehran is increasing day by day, new opportunities have emerged for the hotels in the capital.

Farrokh said prices in Tehran’s hotels and motels are higher on first days of the week than on last days. At the end of the week, Tehran’s hotels and motels offer discounts ranging from 20 percent to 60 percent, according to him.

The official added that no rise in price expected in the country’s hotels. Iran has 1,100 hotels, out of which 130have four and five stars, according to media reports.

The Islamic Republic plans to triple the number of hotels in the country by 2025. Experts believe that by 2025, the number of the tourists arriving in Iran will increase from five million to 20 million.

Iran - with an ancient history, blend of cultures, different climatic zones, and natural beauty - is introducing measures to boost its tourism sector, which has been neglected after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Also around 6 million tourists visited the country last year — many of whom were pilgrims from the regions — generating up to $7.5bn or about 2 per cent of GDP, according to the official figures.

The country plans to boost tourism’s share in its economy from the current 5-6 percent to 10 percent.

Iran’s tourism growth has been 12 in the past couple of years. This is while the world average is 4.6 percent and the Asian average is 5 percent.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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