Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Ali-Asghar Mounesan said the number of foreign tourists who have visited Iran between March 21 and July 22 has increased by 40 percent in comparison to the same 4-month period in 2018.
According to Mounesan, a total of 7.7 million tourists visited Iran last year (March 2018-March 2019), much higher than the 4.7 million who traveled to Iran a year earlier.
Mounesan explained that such upward trend in the tourism industry occurred after Iran diversified its travel and tourism services by supporting medical tourism, agritourism, and hiking tourism.
He also noted that the Islamic Republic is devising a grand plan to promote the tourism industry under the auspices of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In August, Iran’s Guardian Council ratified a plan for the formation of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani later appointed Mounesan as the caretaker of the newly-formed ministry.
Mounesan is a vice president who took the helm at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) in August 2017.