Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran and Portugal emphasized boosting all-out mutual ties in particular in tourism sector, in a meeting between Iran's vice president Masoud Soltanifar and visiting Portuguese Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Costa Oliveira.
Grounds are prepared for developing cooperation in the fields of tourism and cultural heritages including restoration of monuments, Soltanifar, who heads Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicraft, and Tourism Organization, said, the Iranian government's news portal reported June 1.
Introducing attractions of Iran and Portugal to the people of the two countries immensely influences the development of their tourism industries and cultural cooperation, Soltanifar said.
The Iranian government seriously pursues the policy of developing rational interactions with the world, Soltanifar said, adding grounds are prepared for presence of foreign investors in the country.
He further said that investors from various countries have expressed readiness to involve in Iran's tourism sector.
The Islamic Republic seeks to use experiences of successful countries in the field of tourism, Soltanifar said.
The Portuguese deputy foreign minister, for his part, said that the two countries enjoy good potentials for developing cooperation in tourism sector.
Portugal is ready to cooperate with Iran in the fields of human resources' training, exchange of experiences, building tourism infrastructure, Oliveira added.
He further expressed Lisbon's readiness to increase the number of flights between the two countries.
Iran plans to attract 20 million tourists per year to generate $30 billion in revenue by 2025.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has suggested that Iran's international tourism revenues in 2013 amounted to $1.294 million.
Meanwhile, the World Bank (WB) reported that 4.96 million tourists arrived in Iran in 2014. The WB statistics indicates 1.175 billion inbound tourists across the globe in 2014 with an expenditure of $1.426 trillion.