Iran expected to attract one million Chinese in near future

Iran is hoping to attract up to one million Chinese tourists from next month in a bid to further strengthen its tourism industry.

Vali Teymouri, Iran's deputy director for tourism affairs told the South China Morning Post that the Iranian government’s new visa waiver program for Chinese visitors – first announced in June – could be implemented as early as the end of this month.

Teymouri said Iran is expected to “attract one million Chinese in the near future” through the visa waiver, a significant increase on the more than 52,000 Chinese who visited the Middle East country in 2018.

“We believe that the two countries have had common cultural and trade communications for a long time. So we should facilitate and improve mutual collaborations, especially in the tourism industry,” he said.

In late June the Iranian government had passed a regulation to cancel visa formalities for Chinese nationals, at the suggestion of the country's foreign ministry and the tourism agency, Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.

ZZ/PR