39 percent growth in Iran’s tourism industry in 2022
Foreign tourists bring in $6.2 billion in revenue
The World Travel and Tourism Council has reported a 39.2 percent growth in Iran’s tourism industry in 2022, with the industry’s value reaching 454 trillion Iranian rials (one billion dollars).
It has also announced that foreign tourists spent $6.2 billion in Iran during the same year.
According to IRNA, the World Travel and Tourism Council has revealed a 22 percent growth in the tourism industry’s share of global GDP in 2022. This industry managed to capture 7.6 percent of the world’s GDP in the same year. In 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the global tourism industry faced a significant decline of 50.4 percent in its share of the global economy, resulting in a reduction of $4.9 trillion in its value. However, in 2021, with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, the industry experienced a growth of 21.7 percent, and in 2022, it witnessed a 22 percent growth in its contribution to the global economy, reaching an increased value of $7.7 trillion.
During the previous calendar year, the tourism industry created 22 million new jobs worldwide, reflecting a 7.9 percent growth compared to the previous year. The number of people employed in this industry reached 295 million, accounting for 9 percent of global employment.
Domestic tourists’ expenditures had a growth rate of 20.4 percent, while foreign tourists spent 81.9 percent more compared to the previous year.
Based on this report, we have witnessed the revival of Iran’s tourism industry in the past two years. While in 2020, Iran’s tourism industry faced a 45 percent decline in its contribution to the country’s GDP, in 2021, it experienced a 40 percent growth in its share.
According to the latest statistics from the World Travel and Tourism Council, the share of the tourism industry in Iran’s overall economy also increased by 39.2 percent in 2022, reaching 4.6 percent of Iran’s total GDP.
With the flourishing of tourism, the employment rate in this industry in Iran witnessed an 11.2 percent growth in 2022, and the number of people employed in this sector increased to 1.44 million. Consequently, the tourism industry’s share of total employment in Iran reached 6.1 percent in 2022.
The statistics show that foreign tourists spent $6.2 billion in Iran during 2022, reflecting a growth rate of 73.5 percent compared to the previous year. Domestic tourists in Iran also spent over 316 trillion Iranian rials (632 million dollars) in 2022, showing a growth rate of 40.1 percent compared to the previous year.
According to this report, out of all the tourist visits to Iran in 2022, 97.9 percent were for recreational purposes, while 2.1 percent were for business purposes.
Among all foreign tourists who entered Iran in 2022, 55 percent were from Iraq, followed by tourists from the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkey, each accounting for 6 percent, Pakistan with 5 percent, and Kuwait with 2 percent, respectively.