Arab tourists flock to Iran (page 1 of 2)

Western tourism to Iran dropped off after the US government's "war on terror" began following the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. But a growing number of Arab visitors are now filling the gap.

"Around a third of tourists coming to Iran are now Arabs," says Ebrahim Pourfaraj, manager of the Tehran-based Pasargad Tours. "Recent figures show a 35 percent year-on-year increase in visitors, and this is mainly due to more Arabs coming."

However, government numbers for visitors do not distinguish between tourists and others, giving a figure for 2003 of 1 million people spending $900 million. Private-sector operators say there are no more than 300,000 tourists.

Japanese like Iran

The biggest groups now appear to be the Japanese, who do not require visas, and Arabs. The growing trend of Arab visitors, say those in the industry, is clear.

"There have been many more Arabs coming since the 9/11," says Morteza Naderi, general manager of the Sadaf hotel in Esfahan, Iran's capital under the Safavids. "Ninety-five percent of our current visitors in the hotel are Arabs. They do not feel so welcome in Europe with all the checks since September 11th, so they come here."

Most are Shi'ites from Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and Lebanon who share their faith with the majority of Iranians, and they come for a mixture of reasons. "They go to Mashad for pilgrimage [to the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shi'ite Imam] and then they come to Esfahan for shopping, relaxation and to visit the historical sites," says Naderi.

In May, for the first time since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, 15 Iranian companies joined the Dubai Tourism Exhibition, and Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization this summer entered the Internet age with a website promoting the country (www.chtourism.ir). Iran has much to promote.

Few cities in the world can boast, as Esfahan can, a square like the Maidoun Naghsh-e Jahan, built in the early 17th century by Shah Abbas and whose fountains and gardens lead to the stunning blue tile-work and classical proportions of the Imam and Sheikh Lotfallah mosques, outstanding examples of Islamic architecture.

Iran also offers a 1,500 kilometre coastline, mountains rising to 5,000 metres and a variety of climates - from the lush humidity of the Caspian Sea to the austere central desert. The three kilometre long bazaar in Tabriz, in the mainly Azeri northwest, is claimed as the largest in the MiddleEast, and the nearby Lake Urmieh and the town of Sara'eyn boast health spas.

But the number of visitors for a country of 65 million people is low - at 300,000, less than 30 percent of those visiting Lebanon - and the reasons for this are clear. "The industry remains beset by a strict social code, a shortage of adequate accommodation, bottlenecks in internal transportation and poor marketing," concluded the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit in its 2004 survey of Iran.

The government has recently drawn up a strategy to deal with these problems. "We need better facilities - hotels, transport - and better procedures for issuing visas," says Ali Hashemi, deputy head of the state tourism organisation and nephew of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president.

"We have already abolished the higher fees once charged to foreigners for entering sites." Private-sector operators estimate that 90 percent of the revenue from tourism ends up in government coffers. Iran's largely state-run, oil-fuelled economy has restricted opportunities for private businesses.