Iran is considering the removal of visa requirements with several countries, including Saudi Arabia, according to Nasser Kanaani, the Foreign Ministry spokesman. Kanaani made the announcement during a weekly press briefing in Tehran on Monday. He stated that the matter is under examination by the Iranian Foreign Ministry and that discussions have been held with related institutions to assess the political and security implications. Once evaluated, the findings will be presented to the Iranian cabinet.

Tehran—Iran’s deputy tourism minister has said the waiting time for the issuance of tourist visas has reduced to one week.

In a remarkable achievement, a skilled photographer has captured a mesmerizing image of a male Iranian leopard in the lofty forest heights of Gilan, northern Iran.

TEHRAN – A delegation of the UNESCO World Heritage specialists is scheduled to travel to Iran in summer in order to assess Arasbaran Protected Area in the northeast and the Ensemble of Historical Sassanid Cities in the south of the country.

Iranian tourism authorities seek to put a new face to the province in a bid to turn the vast region into a tourist destination.

In the past four years, Iran’s tourism suffered from various upheavals including the U.S. sanctions aimed at crippling Iran’s economy, flash floods in March 2019, the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner, and ultimately the coronavirus pandemic.

An Iranian tourism official says the disruption of internet enforced by the government amid protests in Iran have cost the country’s tourism industry dearly.

“It’s not good times for the tourism industry,” Hormatollah Rafi’ee, the president of the Association of Air Transport and Tourist Agencies of Iran, told Entekhab new outlet on Sunday, adding that in the past 38 days, nearly 90 percent of all incoming tours to the country had been cancelled.

TEHRAN – Iran ranked 19th out of 185 countries in the 2021 Travel & Tourism Total Contribution to GDP Index, according to a biennial report released by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

The Islamic Republic comes 19th with $48.1 billion in the 2021 Travel & Tourism Total Contribution to GDP Index, standing between South Korea and Switzerland, which were ranked 18th and 20th with GDP contributions of $48.8 billion and $44.5 billion, respectively.

The U.S., China, Germany, Japan, and Italy were named the top five countries of the same index. The figures from WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, come from its 2021 Economic Impact Report (EIR), which lays bare the devastating impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Nashtifan is situated on a semi-arid windswept plain northeast Iran, some 40 kilometers from the Afghan border. Along its southern edge, a towering earthen wall houses series of vertical axis windmills used for milling grain into flour.

The area is known for its seasonal strong winds, and in fact, the name Nashtifan is derived from words that translate to “storm’s sting.”

Constructed of clay, wood, and straw, those ancient gears which are inherited from preceding generations, are perched on a cliff overlooking the village, milling grain for centuries.

TEHRAN – The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways plans to operate a tourism train, which will connect the cities of Mashhad and Khaf, northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province.

The train will pass by the cities of Sabzevar, Bajestan, Tabas and some others, CHTN quoted Abolfazl Mokarramifar, the provincial tourism chief, as saying on Monday.

Kong is a beautiful port city in the central district of Bandar Lengeh County in Hormozgan Province, southern Iran.

At a 2006 census, its population was 14,881, in 2,908 families. Kong residents speak and write in Arabic, and many of them can also speak Persian.

The city has in the past centuries been a big manufacturer of wooden ships called dhow.

With 62 tourists and 14 crew members on board, the flight touched down in the historical city of Shiraz on Friday for a four-day tour, said Mohammad Moheb-Khodai, the deputy director of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.

“The travelers have previously been in Japan, China and India…heading for Italy and Morocco as their next legs of journey,” the official said.

Asenior tourism official offered explanation to ease concerns among Iranian tour operators about a scheme devised by Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization titled “virtual tour operators”.

The most significant weakness of Iran’s tourism is the lackluster performance of the media in publicizing its capacities, an official with the Culture Ministry said. 

Hamid Ziaeiparvar, director for media studies and planning at the ministry, said the major shortcoming in this regard is in content creation. 

Iranians living abroad have been invited to submit their applications for a position as “virtual tour operators” as of January 6.

The job involves encouraging foreigners to visit Iran and earn a sum of money for each tourist that is convinced to make a trip. The effort is in line with the new scheme proposed by Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, to make a change in common strategies of attracting tourists.  Ali Asghar Mounesan, the head of ICHHTO, labeled the project an innovative approach in the field.