"We are here out of curiosity. We want to see historic monuments and landmarks and taste national meals,” she said as she bought a snack near Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Square. “We can communicate with Iranian local Turks and people are hospitable to us. We feel quite comfortable.”
As Iran started climbing out of isolation during nuclear talks with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, more Westerners began visiting the Islamic Republic and the tourism industry appeared to blossom. But experts say renewed U.S. pressure on Iran has hindered the industry from growing as fast as it could and has hurt businesses in the short term.Foreign arrivals to Iran in 2017 fell to 4.8 million and the number of U.S. tourists to 3,728, according to the U.N. agency.
Porpezeshk has worked as an English-speaking guide in Iran for more than 24 years. Now months go by when she has no tours, she said, and she’s taken up tutoring and translation.Ali Sadrnia, a member of the Iran Tourist Guides Assn., said there has been an increase in the number of Shiite visitors from countries near Iran. But Western tourists, he said, spend more money.
My bucket list has a hole in it regarding a visit here! Never!!
I’d love to go to the country and I’ve met a good number of great Iranian people.
Will Iran's Morality Police be waiting at the airport to greet the western tourists with chants of death to America?...just wondering...
What a wonderful idea. Vacation in beautiful Iran, catch the noon stoning in the public square, be sure to see the gay man tossed off a roof with a resounding thud, have a drink at happy hour while waiting for the cacophony of the call to evening prayers from all the minarets.
Only way I would go to Iran is with a nuclear weapon on me.
😂😂yeah sorry you can’t do anything to make most America’s want to ever vacation in Iran