Iranians love to travel: US$ 8-10 billion spent abroad is showing it

Tourism is big business in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite sanctions the travel and tourism world in Iran has been booming. Iranian’s love to travel – and it shows.Iran gained $3-4 billion from

incoming tourists but Iranian tourists spent about $8-10 billion while traveling to other countries, during the past Iranian fiscal year.

The director of Iran’s cultural heritage and tourism organization, Masoud Soltanifar, said that in Iranian year 1391 (March 2012-March 2013) just one million foreign tourists visited Iran, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported on April 11.Soltanifar added that 7.7 million Iranian travelled to other countries during March 2012-March 2013.

“Based on national development plans, Iran should attract some 20 million foreign tourists in 2025. It can be claimed that no significant progress has taken place in the country’s tourism sector during the past eight years,” he admitted.