Tehran, Iran, July 30
Trend:
Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture seeks to improve tourism in the country by increasing role of private sector in the industry.
Masoud Shirinkalam, secretary of tourism commission at Iran Chamber of Commerce, revealed statistics in the sphere of tourism in last Iranian year (March 21, 2018 - March 20, 2019) in an interview with Trend.
"Around eight to ten million tourists arrived in the country last Iranian year. However, different agencies use different statistics," he noted. "For example, Iraqis medical tourists who arrive in Iran in the morning and depart in the evening, are considered as tourists by Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran, but not by the Chamber of Commerce."
"Representatives of Chamber of Commerce have started their new term since late May, and the board of directors comprising members of chambers in provinces and government cabinet will form tourism and other commissions in Iran Chamber of Commerce in August," he noted.
He went on to say: "The executive plan will be based on the priorities of the commission. The first step is to create tourism unit aim to facilitate obtaining investment and expanding tourism. Then, unnecessary and ineffective regulations and procedures in tourism industries will identified and removed."
"The third issue is to support connected chains of the tourism industry including tourism complexes, hotels, transportation, IT and other services. To this end, we help chambers of commerce in provinces and invite representatives of the private sector to support the sector," he noted.
According to him, the fourth issue is developing arts and sports in the tourism industry, which can be also supported by the private sector.
"Finally, efforts shall be made to expand maritime tourism and water sports, in including using Persian Gulf coast for this purpose and commercializing tours in the Caspian Sea. At the moment, ships harbored at north coasts of Iran carry out a few-day sea tours to six countries in the Caspian sea," he said.