IRAN: US Sanctions Boost Iran Tourism

The annual International Exhibition of Halal Industry - Halal Expo - was held as at the end of April in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan as part of the XI International Economic Summit: “Russia - Islamic World: Kazan Summit 2019”.

An Iranian travel agency Persepol, that's registered in Kazan took part in the Expo.

Persepol offers travellers to see Iran in a different light. The company's owner Amir Mousavi said how Russians are interested in visiting Iran, whether halal tourism is attractive to them, what difficulties they have, and how the tourism industry has changed with the introduction of tough US sanctions on Iran.

How long have you been working in tourism? How comfortable is it to promote halal tourism?

Amir Mousavi said: I have been living in Tatarstan for a long time, I have my own carpet business. We've not been in the tourism sector we've so long. For the first time my company has taken part in the Russia Halal Expo.

During the 2018 World Cup a lot of tourists from Iran came to Tatarstan. I must thank the leadership of the republic for creating all the necessary conditions.

Iranians love Tatarstan very much and willingly come here. On the other hand, we noticed that residents of Tatarstan are very interested in Iran, especially when the country is represented in the media in a negative way.

It is for this purpose that we decided to set up a travel agency in order to introduce Russians to the ancient culture of Iran. We are not after big financial gains in tourism; we are rather working to improve the image of Iran in the eyes of foreign tourists.

Taking into account the fact that in Iran there are a number of restrictions for foreigners, in particular with regard to clothing, halal tourism seems to be the most profitable category. More than 50 million Muslims live in the Russian Federation, so halal tours to Iran are in demand.

So you offer tours only for Muslims? Or are there any special offers developed for other tourists?

He said: We also offer basic tours to show a number of the most famous cities in Iran. There are also non-standard extreme tours with special routes.

For example, the desert rally or mountain climbing. We have organised trips for around 500 tourists from Russia in the last two years.

We also offer Iranians tours to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volga cruises (Tatarstan), as well Golden Ring tours. All our clients, especially those who have travelled to Iran for the first time, leave only positive feedback, their attitude towards Iran changes completely after they visit the country.

It is also pleasant that our countries have simplified the visa regime. This makes our work much easier.

How have the US sanctions affected Iran's tourism industry?

Amir responded: The US has failed to paralyze the tourism industry, on the contrary, it made it more attractive to foreigners. As the saying goes, the forbidden fruit is always the sweetest, foreigners want to learn more about the country that the US wants to enslave with sanctions.

In addition, the fall of Iran's national currency has made Iran much cheaper for foreigners, especially if you look at prices in foreign currency euros or dollars.

The image of Iran that has been created in the Western media is very frightening. This has led to the decline of the total number of foreign tourists to Iran.

But those who have previously visited this country, continue to come and travel around it. Therefore, I believe that the sanctions did not have a significant impact on the tourism industry in Iran.

Russia plans to develop tourist relations with Iran, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) said.

The advisor at the Iranian embassy in Russia, Hassan Saleh Majd, said that Russia and Iran currently operate 8-9 flights between the countries per week and plan to restore railroad traffic between Moscow and Tehran.

Russia and Iran are also currently developing an agreement on a visa-free regime for tourist groups.

The diplomat also noted that Iran is particularly interested in more and more Russian tourists coming to Iran despite the fact that it is not the easiest direction due to strict religious laws.

The executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, Maya Lomidze, and the Vice-President of ATOR, Alexander Kurnosov, represented Russia at the meeting.


Tourism Observer

RUSSIA: Russia Tourism Boosted By Weak Ruble

The weakening of the ruble has helped Russia to attract more tourists.

According to estimates by the Russian Tourism Industry Union, the number of tourists visiting Russia has increased by 13 percent in the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period in 2014.

In total, foreign tourists have made 2.54 million trips to Russia between January and September this year, which is the highest amount since 2008, the report said.

Chinese tourists became the largest group of foreign tourists to Russia in the first nine months of the year, accounting for 22.9 percent of the total amount of foreign travelers visiting Russia, according to data from the Russian Tourism Industry Union.

Germany came in second with 12.6 percent of the total number of visits followed by the U.S. with a 6 percent share and Turkey, accounting for 4.6 percent of the total number of tourists, according to the report.

Vladimir Kantorovich, first vice president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, attributes the growth of the number of tourists visiting Russia to the weakening of the ruble, which lost more than 40 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar since the beginning of last year.

Russia became a very cheap destination for many tourists, Kantorovich said.

While the number of foreign tourists traveling to Russia is growing, the outbound tourism in Russia has been reeling from the economic recession and the ruble drop.

Since the beginning of the year, the tourist flow from Russia fell by 31.4 percent, Oleg Safonov, the head of Russia's federal tourism agency Rostourism, said.

Apart from the economic causes, the outbound tourism in Russia has been affected by Russia's recent ban on flights to Egypt imposed after the crash of the Russian passenger plane in the Sinai Peninsula as a result of a terrorist attack, as well as the ban on selling package tours to Turkey after the downing of the Russian warplane near the Syrian border.

In addition, Russia will introduce visa requirements for Turkish citizens starting on Jan. 1, 2016 as part of the sanctions against the country, which can have a negative impact in the development of the inbound tourism in Russia.

According to the statistics, Turkey represents a significant growth in the number of tourists going to Russia.

In the first nine months of the year, the number of tourists from Turkey visiting Russia has increased by 15.6 percent, compared with the same period last year, according to data from the Russian Tourism Industry Union.