Baku, Azerbaijan, May 30
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
A group of renowned international hotel managers will travel to Iran soon to pave the way for investing in the construction of luxury hotels in the country, the president of Iran World Trade Center Mohammad Reza Sabzalipour told Trend May 30.
Although he did not disclose the names and the nationality of the persons, but said that one of them own over 150 large and luxury hotels across the globe.
"Statistics show that Iran has the capacity to receive 2-3 million foreign tourists per year. Next to the oil sector, tourism can be the best source of income for the country."
"As investment in the construction of hotels is exempt from international sanctions, officials of the Iran World Trade Center started talks last year with managers of some large foreign companies to encourage them to invest in Iran's tourism projects," he said.
Iran plans to annually attract 20 million tourists by 2025 which could generate $30 billion of revenue, director of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Masoud Soltanifar has said.
He added that the country is well-prepared for the "new shock" to be triggered by massive tourist inflow.
Tourist influx into the country is expected to increase dramatically in the second half of 2015 after the final deal is secured in the nuclear talks between Iran and the P 5+1 group, he noted.
The country is among the world's top potential tourist destinations with a treasure trove of ancient sites, including 17 places listed by the UNESCO.
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