Persia Digest - Over four million tourists coming to Iran in the first five months of the Iranian year beginning March 2019 shows a 30 percent rise in tourism YOY.

The tourism deputy for the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism of Iran, Vali Teimouri, said at a press conference on World Tourism Day: “In the first five months of this year, we had four million tourists coming to Iran and a similar number of Iranians visiting other countries. It is interesting to note that Iranians mostly visit the same countries whose tourists visit Iran.”

Speaking about tourism security in Iran, Teimouri said: “Iran is a safe destination for tourism. Some scattered incidents which happen here can also happen anywhere else in the world. Tourism security is vital for us; hence, we even have a security committee for tourists. Also, according to international reports, Iran is one of the safest destinations for tourism.”

He also said about introducing Iranian tourism capacities to attract more people: “We have taken steps to this end with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reached agreements on setting up a tourism desk in our embassies in target countries. Before a cultural attaché is sent on a mission, they will meet with our Ministry to become more familiar with our tourism capacities and introduce them in the target countries.”