Iran will start issuing electronic visas for foreign tourists, Masoud Soltanifar, Iran’s vice-president said.
Soltanifar, who heads Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, added that Tehran also pursues the issue of mutual visa waiver with certain countries, to promote tourism sector.
He did not unveil the names of countries with which Iran plans to eliminate the visa, but said that boosting the country’s tourism sector is a priority for the Iranian administration.
The Islamic Republic, currently issues 30-day visas for citizens of 190 countries upon arrival in its airports which can be extended for another 15 days, the Iranian official added.
He also said that Iran needs to attract foreign investment to develop its tourism sector.
According to Soltanifar, Iran stands as world’s 36th country for tourism revenue with an annual income of $7.5 to $8 billion.
The country should increase the share of tourism income from 0.5 percent to two percent of the country’s total revenues by 2021, based on the 20-year economic development plan.
Some 3.8 million of foreign tourists visited Iran, bringing $1.11 billion worth of income to the country in 2012. The figure stood at 4.77 million in 2013, 24.4 percent more year on year.
The foreign tourists were mainly from India, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Tourism, Travel, Hospitality, Conservation: News,Stories And Experiences From Allover The World
Showing posts with label afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label afghanistan. Show all posts
Saturday, 4 February 2017
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
TAJIKISTAN: More Than 147 Thousand Tourists Visited Tajikistan
More than 147 thousand tourists visited Tajikistan during the last 6 month.
Every tourist spent $500 in average during his trip. As a result, the tourism sector attracted more than 73 million dollars to the economy of the country. It’s a good result compared with previous years.
Most of the tourists come from South Korea, Armenia, Turkey, China, USA, Russia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Citizens of these countries are very interested in the history of the country, its cultural heritage and traditions.
Friday, 4 December 2015
PAKISTAN: Pakistan Rejects 30 Immigrants, Stops Them To Disembark From Plane,Sends Them back To Europe
Migrants from Pakistan landing in Kos, Greece, in August. Pakistanis have been among the huge influx of asylum seekers into Europe this year, but they are viewed as economic migrants.
Pakistan sent 30 migrants back to three European countries after refusing to allow them to disembark from a chartered plane at an airport in Islamabad, officials said, a move that reflected growing frustration over the treatment of asylum seekers.
Sarfraz Hussain, a spokesman for the Pakistani Interior Ministry, described the migrants as “unverified deportees,” most of whom were sent back from Greece, saying the authorities would not permit anyone to enter the country without proper documentation.
A Greek police official, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, said all 49 passengers on the plane were Pakistani citizens. “They had Pakistani Embassy documents,” he said. “Why would Pakistani Embassy staff give documents to people who are not from Pakistan?”
The Pakistani interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said last month that European countries were sending people back to Pakistan without identifying their nationality. But the episode Thursday was the first time that the country had refused to admit deportees.
In a statement, the European Union said on Thursday that Pakistan was requiring identification information about the deportees above and beyond what was called for in a readmission agreement reached in 2010, and that the case illustrated the need to improve the accord.
Officials said none of the passengers, who were flown to Benazir Bhutto International Airport, were initially allowed to leave the plane. The passengers were questioned, and the authorities then allowed 19 people to disembark after they were confirmed to be Pakistani citizens. They were taken into custody by a unit of the Interior Ministry that deals with human trafficking.
Greece is the most popular entry point for asylum seekers in Europe, and on Thursday, its migration minister said the country would take steps to address the deteriorating situation along the border with Macedonia.
Pakistanis have been among the huge flow of asylum seekers into Europe this year, but unlike those from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, who are fleeing war at home, Pakistanis are rarely allowed to remain because they are viewed as economic migrants.
The Greek police official said “action will be taken” when the migrants returned to Greece, but he did not elaborate, noting that the flight was organized by Frontex, the European Union’s border monitoring agency.
He said 39 had been deported from Greece and the other 10 from Austria and Bulgaria. Of the 30 who were not allowed to enter Pakistan, 26 had been deported from Greece.
Pakistan tightened its policy on readmitting migrants last month, and Mr. Khan said an agreement to take migrants back in was the subject of “blatant misuse” by several European countries. Yiannis Mouzalas, the Greek migration minister, said it was the responsibility of the European Union to intervene.
Mr. Khan said many of the 90,000 citizens of Pakistan who were deported last year had been treated unfairly, and he expressed concern that many from his country who were found traveling without proper documents were being labeled terrorists.
After a meeting on Nov. 23 between Mr. Khan and Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Union commissioner for migration, both sides agreed to enhance cooperation. On Thursday, however, Mr. Hussain said Greece had violated the agreement, complaining of “immoral, inhuman and illegal” conduct.
In Greece, Mr. Mouzalas said the authorities were determined to resolve peacefully the situation at the border with Macedonia in the next 10 days.
The International Organization for Migration said that the borders had been closed because of protests and rioting, and that a 22-year-old Moroccan citizen had died after being electrocuted.
The police and local aid workers said he was killed after he touched a high-voltage cable when he climbed on top of a stationary train near the border.
Sarfraz Hussain, a spokesman for the Pakistani Interior Ministry, described the migrants as “unverified deportees,” most of whom were sent back from Greece, saying the authorities would not permit anyone to enter the country without proper documentation.
A Greek police official, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, said all 49 passengers on the plane were Pakistani citizens. “They had Pakistani Embassy documents,” he said. “Why would Pakistani Embassy staff give documents to people who are not from Pakistan?”
The Pakistani interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said last month that European countries were sending people back to Pakistan without identifying their nationality. But the episode Thursday was the first time that the country had refused to admit deportees.
In a statement, the European Union said on Thursday that Pakistan was requiring identification information about the deportees above and beyond what was called for in a readmission agreement reached in 2010, and that the case illustrated the need to improve the accord.
Officials said none of the passengers, who were flown to Benazir Bhutto International Airport, were initially allowed to leave the plane. The passengers were questioned, and the authorities then allowed 19 people to disembark after they were confirmed to be Pakistani citizens. They were taken into custody by a unit of the Interior Ministry that deals with human trafficking.
Greece is the most popular entry point for asylum seekers in Europe, and on Thursday, its migration minister said the country would take steps to address the deteriorating situation along the border with Macedonia.
Pakistanis have been among the huge flow of asylum seekers into Europe this year, but unlike those from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, who are fleeing war at home, Pakistanis are rarely allowed to remain because they are viewed as economic migrants.
The Greek police official said “action will be taken” when the migrants returned to Greece, but he did not elaborate, noting that the flight was organized by Frontex, the European Union’s border monitoring agency.
He said 39 had been deported from Greece and the other 10 from Austria and Bulgaria. Of the 30 who were not allowed to enter Pakistan, 26 had been deported from Greece.
Pakistan tightened its policy on readmitting migrants last month, and Mr. Khan said an agreement to take migrants back in was the subject of “blatant misuse” by several European countries. Yiannis Mouzalas, the Greek migration minister, said it was the responsibility of the European Union to intervene.
Mr. Khan said many of the 90,000 citizens of Pakistan who were deported last year had been treated unfairly, and he expressed concern that many from his country who were found traveling without proper documents were being labeled terrorists.
After a meeting on Nov. 23 between Mr. Khan and Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Union commissioner for migration, both sides agreed to enhance cooperation. On Thursday, however, Mr. Hussain said Greece had violated the agreement, complaining of “immoral, inhuman and illegal” conduct.
In Greece, Mr. Mouzalas said the authorities were determined to resolve peacefully the situation at the border with Macedonia in the next 10 days.
The International Organization for Migration said that the borders had been closed because of protests and rioting, and that a 22-year-old Moroccan citizen had died after being electrocuted.
The police and local aid workers said he was killed after he touched a high-voltage cable when he climbed on top of a stationary train near the border.
Friday, 18 September 2015
TURKEY: Another Drowned Kid Found On Turkish Beach
Refugees pray on a highway In Turkey
A four-year-old Syrian girl's body has washed up on a beach in western Turkey, state media says, just weeks after images of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi shook the world.
The yet-to-be identified girl was found lifeless on a beach in the Aegean town of Cesme in Izmir province after a boat carrying 15 Syrians to the Greek island of Chios sank.
It said the Turkish coast guard rescued the remaining 14 Syrians, including eight children, from the inflatable boat. The girl appeared to be the only casualty.
Harrowing pictures of three-year-old Syrian asylum seeker Aylan, whose body was found washed up on a Turkish beach after the boat carrying his family to the Greek island of Kos sank, caused an outpouring of emotion around the world.
The response pressured European leaders to step up their response to the migrant crisis.
But two weeks later EU members are still at odds over how to accommodate the tens of thousands of new arrivals.
Turkish deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Friday the Turkish coast guard had rescued over 53,000 asylum seekers from stricken boats since the beginning of the year.
He said around 274 asylum seekers had lost their lives in Turkish waters this year seeking to leave the country by sea for Greece.
In another recent tragedy, 22 people who had left Turkey drowned on Tuesday when their wooden boat sank off Kos.
Asylum seekers have in recent days turned to Turkey's land borders with Greece and Bulgaria to avoid the sea voyage that has cost over 2,600 people their lives in the Mediterranean this year.
Several hundred asylum seekers spent a third day camped in and around the Turkish border city of Edirne, which lies 10 kilometres from the Greek border and is being promoted on social media as a safer route out of Turkey than sea journey in overcrowded dinghies.
Under an "open-door" policy championed by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has taken in 2.2 million Syrian asylum seekers since the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011.
Mr Kurtulmus said Turkey has so far spent almost $11 billion (6 billion euros) to provide for Syrian refugees.
International Organisation of Immigration says a record 473,887 asylum seekers crossed into Europe
A record 473,887 asylum seekers have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, the International Organisation for Migration said on Friday, including at least 182,000 Syrians — almost 40 per cent of the total.
The total represents an increase of almost 9,000 from the total the Geneva-based agency gave on Tuesday. But the rate of increase has slowed.
On Tuesday, the IOM said the number of crossings had jumped by more than 32,000 since the previous Friday.
The EU's Eurostat statistics agency said the EU received 213,000 asylum applications from April to June this year, a jump of 85 per cent from the same period in 2014, with over one third coming from Syria or Afghanistan.
It said Germany had the highest number of new applicants, with more than a third of the total for the EU, while Hungary was the country that received the most asylum applications relative to its population size.
Applications from Kosovo, regarded as a "safe" country by most of the EU, dropped sharply in the period, from the top berth with 50,000 requests in the first quarter to just over 10,000 one quarter later.
Across the EU almost 600,000 applications were pending at the end of June, Eurostat said, with 52 per cent of those being processed in Germany.
The European Union must know that Croatia will not become a migrant 'hotspot'. We have hearts, but we also have head.Croatia's prime minister, Zoran Milanovi
Croatia said it cannot and would not accept the burden of thousands of asylum seekers any longer, nor register or accommodate them.
Faced with an influx of more than 13,000 migrants in just over two days, prime minister Zoran Milanovic said on Friday he had called a session of Croatia's National Security Council and that it was time to deal with the problem in a different way
"We cannot register and accommodate these people any longer," he told a news conference.
"They will get food, water and medical help, and then they can move on. The European Union must know that Croatia will not become a migrant 'hotspot'. We have hearts, but we also have heads."
In response, Slovenia accused Croatia on of breaking the rules of the EU and the Schengen zone of border-free travel.
Interior ministry state secretary Bostjan Sefic said Slovenia expected around 1,000 asylum seekers to cross from Croatia in the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Dutch prosecutors said on Friday they had arrested two Syrians suspected of operating a large people-smuggling ring that brought hundreds of Syrian refugees into Europe.
Following a year-long investigation, Dutch authorities arrested a 35-year-old Syrian man living in the southern city of Eindhoven as well as his 26-year-old cousin.
Europol, Europe's police agency, is tracking as many as 30,000 suspected people smugglers who are taking advantage of large flows into the continent of asylum seekers escaping conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
Vatican takes in first Syrian refugee family
Responding to a call from Pope Francis for every Church parish to house refugees, the Vatican City said on Friday it had taken in a family that had fled the war in Syria.
The family — a father, mother and their two children — came from Damascus and are Melkite Greek Catholics, a Christian church with close ties to the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican said in a statement the family, which was not named, arrived in Italy on September 6, the day Pope Francis made his appeal for European parishes to open their doors to refugees. The four Syrians have since asked for asylum.
Journey in search of a better life
In a special report, ABC correspondents Mary Gearin, Barbara Miller and Sophie McNeill follow some asylum seekers on their long path through Europe.
"According to the law, for the first six months following the request for asylum those seeking international protection cannot work," the Vatican said.
"During this time, they will be helped and accompanied by the Parish of Santa Anna."
The Vatican City, a micro state which sits in the heart of Rome, contains two parishes — Santa Anna and St. Peter's Basilica.
The Vatican said it could not yet provide any information about a second family that is expected to be housed by the St Peter's administration.
Some parishioners have been openly hostile to the idea of welcoming in Muslims.
Monks in a village in Slovakia had to withdraw an offer to house Christian Syrian refugees after locals baulked at the idea.
The vast majority of Syrians are Muslims, but its small Christian community is one of the oldest in the world, making up an estimated 10 per cent of the population before the outbreak of the Syrian unrest in 2011.
According to its website, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church had some 150,000 members in Damascus in 2010. It is not clear how many have stayed in the city.
A four-year-old Syrian girl's body has washed up on a beach in western Turkey, state media says, just weeks after images of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi shook the world.
The yet-to-be identified girl was found lifeless on a beach in the Aegean town of Cesme in Izmir province after a boat carrying 15 Syrians to the Greek island of Chios sank.
It said the Turkish coast guard rescued the remaining 14 Syrians, including eight children, from the inflatable boat. The girl appeared to be the only casualty.
Harrowing pictures of three-year-old Syrian asylum seeker Aylan, whose body was found washed up on a Turkish beach after the boat carrying his family to the Greek island of Kos sank, caused an outpouring of emotion around the world.
The response pressured European leaders to step up their response to the migrant crisis.
But two weeks later EU members are still at odds over how to accommodate the tens of thousands of new arrivals.
Turkish deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Friday the Turkish coast guard had rescued over 53,000 asylum seekers from stricken boats since the beginning of the year.
He said around 274 asylum seekers had lost their lives in Turkish waters this year seeking to leave the country by sea for Greece.
In another recent tragedy, 22 people who had left Turkey drowned on Tuesday when their wooden boat sank off Kos.
Asylum seekers have in recent days turned to Turkey's land borders with Greece and Bulgaria to avoid the sea voyage that has cost over 2,600 people their lives in the Mediterranean this year.
Several hundred asylum seekers spent a third day camped in and around the Turkish border city of Edirne, which lies 10 kilometres from the Greek border and is being promoted on social media as a safer route out of Turkey than sea journey in overcrowded dinghies.
Under an "open-door" policy championed by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has taken in 2.2 million Syrian asylum seekers since the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011.
Mr Kurtulmus said Turkey has so far spent almost $11 billion (6 billion euros) to provide for Syrian refugees.
International Organisation of Immigration says a record 473,887 asylum seekers crossed into Europe
A record 473,887 asylum seekers have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, the International Organisation for Migration said on Friday, including at least 182,000 Syrians — almost 40 per cent of the total.
The total represents an increase of almost 9,000 from the total the Geneva-based agency gave on Tuesday. But the rate of increase has slowed.
On Tuesday, the IOM said the number of crossings had jumped by more than 32,000 since the previous Friday.
The EU's Eurostat statistics agency said the EU received 213,000 asylum applications from April to June this year, a jump of 85 per cent from the same period in 2014, with over one third coming from Syria or Afghanistan.
It said Germany had the highest number of new applicants, with more than a third of the total for the EU, while Hungary was the country that received the most asylum applications relative to its population size.
Applications from Kosovo, regarded as a "safe" country by most of the EU, dropped sharply in the period, from the top berth with 50,000 requests in the first quarter to just over 10,000 one quarter later.
Across the EU almost 600,000 applications were pending at the end of June, Eurostat said, with 52 per cent of those being processed in Germany.
The European Union must know that Croatia will not become a migrant 'hotspot'. We have hearts, but we also have head.Croatia's prime minister, Zoran Milanovi
Croatia said it cannot and would not accept the burden of thousands of asylum seekers any longer, nor register or accommodate them.
Faced with an influx of more than 13,000 migrants in just over two days, prime minister Zoran Milanovic said on Friday he had called a session of Croatia's National Security Council and that it was time to deal with the problem in a different way
"We cannot register and accommodate these people any longer," he told a news conference.
"They will get food, water and medical help, and then they can move on. The European Union must know that Croatia will not become a migrant 'hotspot'. We have hearts, but we also have heads."
In response, Slovenia accused Croatia on of breaking the rules of the EU and the Schengen zone of border-free travel.
Interior ministry state secretary Bostjan Sefic said Slovenia expected around 1,000 asylum seekers to cross from Croatia in the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Dutch prosecutors said on Friday they had arrested two Syrians suspected of operating a large people-smuggling ring that brought hundreds of Syrian refugees into Europe.
Following a year-long investigation, Dutch authorities arrested a 35-year-old Syrian man living in the southern city of Eindhoven as well as his 26-year-old cousin.
Europol, Europe's police agency, is tracking as many as 30,000 suspected people smugglers who are taking advantage of large flows into the continent of asylum seekers escaping conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
Vatican takes in first Syrian refugee family
Responding to a call from Pope Francis for every Church parish to house refugees, the Vatican City said on Friday it had taken in a family that had fled the war in Syria.
The family — a father, mother and their two children — came from Damascus and are Melkite Greek Catholics, a Christian church with close ties to the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican said in a statement the family, which was not named, arrived in Italy on September 6, the day Pope Francis made his appeal for European parishes to open their doors to refugees. The four Syrians have since asked for asylum.
Journey in search of a better life
In a special report, ABC correspondents Mary Gearin, Barbara Miller and Sophie McNeill follow some asylum seekers on their long path through Europe.
"According to the law, for the first six months following the request for asylum those seeking international protection cannot work," the Vatican said.
"During this time, they will be helped and accompanied by the Parish of Santa Anna."
The Vatican City, a micro state which sits in the heart of Rome, contains two parishes — Santa Anna and St. Peter's Basilica.
The Vatican said it could not yet provide any information about a second family that is expected to be housed by the St Peter's administration.
Some parishioners have been openly hostile to the idea of welcoming in Muslims.
Monks in a village in Slovakia had to withdraw an offer to house Christian Syrian refugees after locals baulked at the idea.
The vast majority of Syrians are Muslims, but its small Christian community is one of the oldest in the world, making up an estimated 10 per cent of the population before the outbreak of the Syrian unrest in 2011.
According to its website, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church had some 150,000 members in Damascus in 2010. It is not clear how many have stayed in the city.
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