Iran welcomes 2m foreign tourists in five months, Iraqis lead arrivals
Iran welcomed two million foreign tourists between March 21 and August 21, with Iraqi visitors accounting for 56% of arrivals, the deputy tourism minister said during a national pilgrimage tourism meeting in the holy city of Qom.
Anoushirvan Mohseni-Bandpey, deputy tourism minister at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, pointed to pilgrimage tourism as a major draw, with many foreign visitors including Iran's holy sites among their travel destinations, IRNA reported.
Iran received 7.399 million foreign tourists in the year ended March 20, 2025, Mohseni-Bandpey said. Some 52% of those visitors included pilgrimage tourism as part of their trip.
He said the National Pilgrimage Task Force had introduced measures to support and expand the sector, while efforts were under way to remove obstacles to increasing the country's accommodation capacity.
The plans aim to encourage greater investment in hotels and other lodging facilities while ensuring compliance with international standards, he said.
Mohseni-Bandpey also outlined a new domestic tourism initiative under which Iranians will receive travel cards with credit limits of up to five billion rials.
Accommodation providers and other tourism-related businesses will also be able to tap into the scheme under the planned framework, he said.