Azerbaijan, Baku, July 19/Trend M. Moezzi
Attracting 7.5 million tourists to Iran will create 4 million jobs bringing $13.6 billion in foreign currency income to the Islamic Republic.
The plan of attracting more than 7 million tourists is on this year's agenda for the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO), the iribnews.ir website quoted Deputy Head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) for Tourism Affairs Manouchehr Jahanian as saying.
Currently 55 percent of the country's accommodation capacity for tourists is empty, Jahanian said at a meeting.
According to the report, "In 2011, about 3.3 million tourists visited Iran. Although Iran is one of the world's top five countries in tourism attractions and historical monuments, it ranks low on income and employment in the tourism sector".
The ICHTO has created a television channel dedicated to tourism and introducing Iran to the world and has set up 13 working groups to resolve such issues as transportation, visa expediting and expatriate Iranians.
Jahanian said 13 tours to familiarize other countries with Iran have already been held with Iraq, Lebanon, Austria, Malaysia, South Korea and Indonesia.