December 21, 2018
Foreign visitors to Iran are almost totally dominated by people from neighboring countries, as efforts to attract big-spending tourists from Europe and North America have largely failed so far.
Most foreign visitors are coming for Shii religious pilgrimages, to get medical care or to buy up goods cheaply, especially since the rial collapsed.
Almost two-thirds of all visitors come from just two countries—Iraq and Azerbaijan—and about 90 percent come from Iran’s seven physical neighbors.
Figures were released this month by the Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization covering the first seven months of the current Persian year.
Of 4,739,413 foreign visitors entering Iran in those months, 41 percent came from Iraq, 21 percent from Azerbaijan, 12 percent from Afghanistan, 10 percent from Turkey and three percent from Pakistan. Those were the five biggest sources of visitors and all are physical neighbors of Iran. They accounted for 87 percent of all visitors.
The organization said there were no data on visitors from Europe and North America, which was difficult to believe.