Iran Keen To Attract Turkish Tourists

Tehran, May 24, IRNA - A senior tourism official made proposals to attract Turkish tourists to visit Iranˈs natural and monumental sites. Morteza Rahmani, a deputy of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, made the proposals in a meeting with the head of Turkey’s Travel Agencies Syndicate, Ulu Soy. Rahmani invited Turkish travel agencies to actively participate at the 2014 Tehran International Tourism Exhibition, which will be held this winter. “A group of representatives of Iranian tourism agencies will visit Turkey to introduce their programs for attracting tourists from Turkey,” he said. Rahmani hoped that Turkish reporters would visit Iran and report about Iran’s tourism attractions. He also called for establishment of a joint working commission aimed at devising joint tourism programs. The head of Turkey’s Travel Agencies Syndicate declared the syndicate’s readiness for dispatching Turkish tourists to Iran. Soy welcomed the signing of an agreement with the Iranian private sector and tourism agencies. “Nearly, 16 million Turkish tourists will travel inside Turkey and abroad in the current year,” he said, adding that Iran must gain a special share of these tourists. The landscape of Iran is diverse, providing a range of activities from hiking and skiing in Alborz Mountain Range, to beach holidays by the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. A number of tourism-friendly infrastructural projects have been launched on Kish Island, which attracts around 1 million visitors annually, a majority of whom are Iranians./end