Tehran, Iran, July 19
Trend:
China is an important market for developing Iran tourism industry and the country is lifting visa requirements for Chinese tourists.
Vali Teymouri, deputy head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handcraft and Tourism Organization informed about that in an interview with Trend.
"The issue of lifting visa requirement for Chinese tourists has been discussed. Having studied a number of target markets, the tourism organization concluded that Chinese market is one of the most promising tourist markets for us; therefore, incentives and supportive measures should be implemented for marketing and developing infrastructure," Teymouri noted.
"One of these measures is lifting visa requirements for Chinese tourists, as was suggested by Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. Other steps, in addition to promotion and marketing campaign, include training the those working in the private sector including hotels and restaurants on how to serve Chinese tourists," he added. "To better understand the market, Iran is attending tourism exhibition in China every year."
He went on to say: "Whether Iran and Chinese government reach the agreement to lift visa for Iranians is not an issue for the tourism organization, since we do not seek to increase Iranian tourists' trips abroad; the plan is to increase the number foreign tourists' arrivals."
He added that the head of the organization has convinced the government and President Hassan Rouhani that lifting visa requirement is in the interests of tourism industry.
"We have plans to reach other markets, too. Few years ago we made the same decision regarding Azerbaijan, and we see more Azerbaijani tourists now. A year ago, the visa requirements were also lifted for Oman," he added. "We will lift the visa for any country that is considered an important market for developing tourism in Iran," he said.