The deputy minister of tourism announced the reopening of Iran’s borders to foreign tourists based on the approval of the Anti-Coronavirus headquarters.
Ali Asghar Shalbafian said: “With the gradual improvement of the Coronavirus situation, we have begun a major effort to revitalize the tourism industry.”
The deputy minister of tourism continued: “Based on the new circumstances in the country, after the passing of the fifth wave of Coronavirus, the increase in vaccination in the country, the National Anti-Coronavirus Headquarters has agreed to reopen Iran’s borders to foreign tourists.”
He added: “This headquarters has given its consent for foreign tourists to enter the country, provided all sanitary instructions are followed by the tourists.”
Shalbafian added: “This action is carried out with the support of official enterprises and tourism facilities so that the application for an entry visa to Iran is submitted with the consent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the offices of tourism services, and foreign tourists can only stay in accommodation facilities whose operation has been licensed from this ministry.”
The deputy minister of tourism highlighted: “We hope that these government actions will lead to the rise of the tourism business.”
It should be noted that the issuance of Iranian tourist visas has been stopped by the National Anti-Coronavirus Headquarters simultaneously with the outbreak of the virus and increasing travel restrictions for foreign tourists. For more than a year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Anti-Coronavirus Headquarters negotiated the resumption of the tourist visa and even approved it in committees of the National Anti-Coronavirus Headquarters, but each time it met with opposition in the headquarters’ inner court. Tourist activists repeatedly appealed to headquarters to allow tourists who had received two doses of the vaccine to travel to Iran, following strict rules and medical protocols. Until then, Iran had only issued visas for medical, business, and educational purposes.
Source: ILNA
