Tehran, Iran, July 19
Trend:
The number of foreign tourists coming to Iran is growing, while the country seeks to expand domestic tourism.
Vali Teymouri, Deputy Head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handcraft and Tourism Organization discussed the latest statistics on foreign tourists in an interview with Trend.
"According to statistics, last Iranian year [started March 21,2018], 7.8 million tourists visited Iran that is 52.3 percent growth comparing to 2017," he said.
"The statistics of the first two months of current Iranian year [started March 21, 2019] show that 1.3 million tourists visited Iran, which shows 32 percent increase comparing to the same period in 2017," he added.
"Meanwhile, the number of Iranians travelling abroad has declined. It dropped 34 percent in 2018 and 27 percent fall in the first two months of the current year," he said. "Thus, the organization seeks to expand travels across the country, specially in western provinces according to an order by head of the organization Ali Asghar Monesan."
"The statistics we have is based on our regular standard approach to collect data on tourists arrival and departures, and our methods may be different from those used by tour agencies. We receive statistical data from Immigration Police, which informs us about the number foreign tourists' arrivals," he added.