Australia has just lowered its travel warning for Iran – potentially putting a trip to the Islamic Republic on a holiday bucket list for keen travellers.

Previously Australians had been told to “reconsider their need to travel” to Iran, but the warning has now been lowered to “exercise a high degree of caution”.

Buying a handmade oriental rug in Iran is the ultimate travel trophy if you can afford it. But until I travelled to Iran myself, I could not fathom the obsession with Persian carpets.

There is something so compelling about Persian carpets that makes travellers to Iran want to get their hands on one, or a couple, to take home.

Iran’s tourism claims are merely contradictory and unreliable estimates, in the absence of a standard statistical framework for the economic measurement of tourism.

Iran wants to draw 20 million foreign tourists by 2025. But Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport is so inadequate it can barely serve its current traffic. “Under the present conditions, the airport is simply unable to host more travelers,” a manager of a private travel agency said on the condition of anonymity.

Was the question that I was met with in the days, weeks and months prior to my trip to Iran. I’ve just returned from a two week trip with G Adventures, exploring the centre of Iran.

Iran’s goal is to quadruple foreign visitors to 20 million by 2025. Last year, some 5.5 million travelers visited Iran, generating about $8 billion for the country. About 9.5 million Iranians went abroad last year. Regional countries make up the bulk of inbound tourists, with no European country cracking the top 10 source markets for Iran.

The couple Mahin Shamsikhani and Khosro Mahin-Roosta with their friend Shiva Shamshiri live a different kind of life. Although they are both engineering graduates from Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology, they are now running an eco-lodge in a village in northern Iran.

Iranian tourism officials will discuss the possibility of relaxing visa regulations with China, Japan, and South Korea in the next few months.

Norway, Denmark and Sweden will negotiate with Iran on May 29-30 aiming to modernize and liberalize commercial air travel agreements, the Norwegian Ministry of Transportation and Communications said in a statement on Friday.

Visa wait time for US citizens has been reduced to only two weeks, a government official says–reports Tehran Times.

There are heavenly gardens, sumptuous palaces and centuries-old bridges to stroll through, and Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque simply takes your breath away

The World Bank said the number of visitors to Iran increased from 2.2 million in 2009 to 5.2 million in 2015, and Iranian officials expect that trend to continue … to 20 million foreign tourists by 2025 and gross some $30 billion.

Business Insider and Bloomberg have both named Iran among the “Top 50” and “Top 20” destinations to visit in 2017 due to security and the country’s ancient architecture, famous bazaars, and natural beauty.

Isfahan, the jewel in Iran’s heritage crown and more a destination for tourists than pilgrims, counted just over 5,000 visitors a month in 2013, when Rouhani came to power. By spring 2017 that number had risen to 85,000 in a single month, the newspaper Isfahan Today reported.

The surge in visitors has been so dramatic that some nights in high season every single hotel room in the city is taken, according to the receptionist at the newly built Zenderood Hotel.

Foreign hotel chains are eyeing the market enthusiastically, particularly since some of the biggest American players are still in effect barred.

Due to a rapid development of eco-lodges in the country, some have reportedly failed to meet officially declared regulations, mainly when it comes to the architectural criteria.

At the moment, a total of 536 eco-lodges are dotted across Iran, showing a sharp increase since 2013 when the number stood at 30.

Today’s warzone is tomorrow’s tourist attraction. … Iran is already on its way to becoming the next one. It will be a conventional destination before too long, provided the US’ sanctions don’t change things too drastically. The local people there are too friendly, the historical and religious sites too amazing, for this place to stay off the mainstream radar for too much longer.