The Iranian government recently passed a law lifting visa restrictions for Chinese visitors. The decision came in response to a joint request by the Foreign Ministry and the ICHTO as the country moves to find new sources of revenues amid the unilateral US sanction. Prior to this announcement for visa-free travel, the Chinese needed to obtain visa upon their arrival in Iran. Meanwhile, Iranians still need to receive visas to travel to China.
Speaking to Mehr News correspondent on Tuesday while visiting the MNA HQ, the Chinese ambassador to Tehran, Chang Hua, said that China is also mulling over ways to facilitate the visit of Iranian nationals to the country.
“China is a large country with many complexities; that is why it seldom signs visa waivers with other sides. But Iran is a friend country to China. Therefore, we will for sure make efforts to create some facilities for the visit of Iranian nationals to China,” the ambassador assured.
He noted that in his meeting with the Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, he had stated that he would work as an ambassador for Iran’s tourism in China and would make efforts to develop tourism ties between the two countries.
“Iran is home to many tourist attractions. It has 22 cultural heritage sites and two natural sites on the UNESCO list, which has placed the country on the tenth place. But ordinary people in China are not informed of Iran’s tourism capacities,” said the ambassador. “The Chinese embassy in Tehran is responsible for developing tourism ties between the two countries and introducing Iran’s tourist attractions to the Chinese people.”
He added that he has a meeting with the head of Iran’s cultural heritage organization and will discuss the issue with him.
He said he began serving as the ambassador to Tehran two months ago, and has already told Foreign Minister Zarif that he hoped he would be able to visit all 31 provinces and 24 UNESCO-inscribed heritage sites of Iran during his mission.
The ambassador also noted that in 2018, about 100,000 Iranians had visited China.
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