Tourism needs radical overhaul to steady growth: Minister
Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, Reza Salehi-Amiri, said on Thursday in Tehran that the country’s tourism sector requires structural re-engineering and a more predictable operating environment to secure sustainable growth, citing fresh investment and employment data.
Speaking at a meeting of the ministry’s Strategic Council for International Affairs and Public Diplomacy, Salehi-Amiri said tourism, which is highly sensitive to external variables, cannot maintain stable expansion without a flexible, program-based governance framework extending from central policy to provincial and local execution, IRNA reported.
He said a five-year transformation plan, running through March 2029, has been designed at national level and broken down into operational schemes for provinces and counties to align decision-making with implementation.
The minister said 734 tourism projects are currently under way nationwide, backed by investment totaling 830 trillion rials, describing the figure as evidence of private-sector confidence in the industry’s medium-term prospects. Financial support through the banking network, coordination with the central bank and the use of specialized funds are aimed at maintaining capital flows and bringing projects to completion, he added.
Tourism accounts for roughly 6% of gross domestic product and nearly 10% of the country’s daily economic turnover, according to the minister. About 1.6 million people are employed across the tourism value chain. Safeguarding those jobs requires stronger demand, expanded target markets and a broader product mix, he said.
Salehi-Amiri highlighted foreign currency earnings as a core advantage. Average spending by inbound visitors stands at significant levels, reaching several thousand dollars in certain markets.
He pointed to health tourism as a growth segment, saying medical infrastructure has improved in recent years and can support higher-value arrivals alongside cultural, pilgrimage and eco-tourism.
He set a medium-term objective of attracting 15 million visitors, arguing that institutional reform, targeted investment support and more effective cultural engagement abroad would be decisive in reaching that threshold.