Iran Attracts over 5 Million Foreign Tourists Last Year: VP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Over 5 million foreign tourists have visited Iran’s religious, historical and cultural sites last Iranian year, vice president Masoud Soltanifar announced on Tuesday.
Soltanifar, who is also head of the country’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO), said on Tuesday that some 5,100,000 foreign tourists visited Iran during last Iranian year (March 21, 2014 - March 20, 2015).
He said the increase in foreign tourists' entry was the outcome of the proactive foreign policy adopted by the government of President Hassan Rouhani.
The CHTHO chief said that some 50% of the foreign tourists are pilgrims of Iran's holy sites in the central city of Qom and the northeastern city of Mashhad.
On the nationality of the tourists, the vice president said that some 1,6 million of them were from Iraq, some 500 thousand from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and other southern countries of the Persian Gulf, some 300 thousand from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries, IRNA reported.
Soltanifar added that tourists from the Western and Southeast Asian countries visit the country's historical and cultural attractions and they usually visit the attractions of the Iranian two major central deserts.
