In 2017, 5.1 million foreign tourists arrived in the country, a 52 percent increase, compared to the same period last year, Monesan said on Monday, on the sidelines of a visit to the historical site of Saad al-Saltaneh of Qazvin.
Pointing to the socio-economic function of tourism, the official added, "The speed of creating job in tourism is twice that of other sectors, and, thankfully, the Cultural Heritage Organization has also succeeded in this direction."
VP added that last year, 203,000 jobs were created in all three sectors of tourism, handicrafts and cultural heritage of the country, and small businesses were formed.
Monesan has announced that over 2,000 investment projects are underway in the country, adding that 374 hotels are currently under construction, 180 of which are four to five stars.
“Last year, we had $281 million worth of handicraft exports, including $300 million worth of luggage exports, totaling $600 million worth of exports from the country," Head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran (CHHTO) added.
He went on to say that in the recent Baku summit, the twenty-fourth sites of Iran, the Hyrcanian forests of 300 hectares, in five provinces of the country were globally registered and the forests after the Lut desert were the second most natural work of the country that were registered.
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