Iran calls for 20-year tourism blueprint to guide future growth
Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Minister Reza Salehi Amiri urged the creation of a 20-year roadmap for the country’s tourism sector, saying the industry needs a long-term vision to ensure sustainable development and global competitiveness.
Salehi Amiri said Iran must design “a model of ideal governance” to steer tourism policy for at least two decades ahead, IRNA reported.
“The future of tourism depends on long-term planning,” he told ministry officials, calling for expert-led policymaking that treats the industry as a pillar of Iran’s cultural economy.
Deputy Minister Anoushirvan Mohseni Bandpey described the minister’s visit as “a signal of special attention” to tourism, saying it had brought fresh “motivation and optimism” to the ministry’s staff.
He said the government plans to allocate $54 million at the central level and $72 million to the provinces to revitalize tourism activities, create jobs and attract private investment.
Salehi Amiri emphasized that tourism policy should move away from quantity-driven targets and focus on the quality of travel and services. Oversight of accommodation and tour operators, he said, would be strengthened, while greater roles would be given to capable private-sector players.
He also called for a unified communication strategy to highlight what he described as a “Secure Iran” in the international arena. Targeted content production has already begun in all 31 provinces, with the first joint media and artistic projects completed.
The minister outlined priority markets for attracting visitors, including neighboring countries, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf states and populous Muslim nations, with China singled out as a key growth market following Tehran’s visa-waiver for Chinese nationals.
Mohseni Bandpey said a crisis-management task force had been established within the Tourism Deputy’s Office to keep the industry resilient amid regional or global disruptions. Under Iran’s Seventh National Development Plan, the ministry aims to sustain recent gains that placed the country among the world’s top 20 tourism destinations, with foreign arrivals up 48.5 percent year-on-year in April 2025.
Salehi Amiri highlighted three priorities for the ministry’s workforce as enhancing status, improving livelihoods and ensuring job security, calling them “non-negotiable” goals for his administration.
He said the proposed long-term blueprint should draw on academic and professional expertise to turn tourism into “a lasting engine of cultural and economic vitality” for the nation.