\u201cDespite threats of the U.S., foreign tourist arrivals in Iran has risen by more than 51 percent during the first six months of this year,\u201d Ali-Asghar Mounesan said, adding, with regard to last year\u2019s growth of four percent, it has been an unprecedented progress for the past few decades, ISNA reported.<\/p>\n
The official declined to provide further details or to say how many foreigners visited the country in the six-month period.<\/p>\n
Mounesan, who doubles as vice president, in September said Iran\u2019s international visitors surged 45 percent in the first five months from the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Other sources have reported that Iran hosted some three million of inbound passengers from March 21 to September 22. Iran attracted five million foreign nationals in the past year.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump in May pulled out from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, re-imposing new sanctions on Iran\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
The U.S.-led restrictions and propaganda campaign, however, have cut the number of Westerner travelers to Iran but the country is trying its best to attract more visitors from neighboring countries.<\/p>\n
Mohammad Moheb-khodaei, a senior Iranian tourism official, said in June:\u00a0 \u201cThe number of travelers from European countries cut by 24 percent in the first three months of the [current Iranian calendar] year from a year earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past couple of years, Air France, British Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines stopped flights to Tehran due to what they publicized as \u201cnegative results and financial outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the 2025 Tourism Vision Plan, the country is expecting to increase the number of tourism arrivals from 4.8 million in 2014 to 20 million.<\/p>\n
Tehrantimes.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International tourist arrivals in Iran rose by more than 51 percent in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21) from a year earlier, tourism chief has said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[739],"tags":[817,405,407,816],"yoast_head":"\n