At the foot of Persepolis, busloads of foreign tourists gaze in awe at the ancient mud-brick ceremonial capital that Iran hopes will be part of a rebirth of its tourism industry.
Although decades of sanctions mean the hotels and infrastructure are not five-star, a tentative political thaw with the West is drawing visitors to Iranian attractions steeped in myth and rumour.
Persepolis, a jewel of the first Persian empire whose palace and terraces took more than 100 years to build, starting under Darius the Great in 518 BC, is one of the highlights.
“Before coming to Iran I knew the vision of this country from the outside was very dark,” says Piotr Chwalba from Poland, who finally went to see Persepolis after thinking of visiting for years.
The rise in visitors is driven by politics. The prospects for tour operators were bleak until recently.
The election of president Hassan Rouhani last year and his decision to resume negotiations with the United States and other leading nations about Iran’s nuclear programme have been a catalyst.
It also helps that his speeches do not tend to excoriate the West in the same manner that his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s did.
“Mr Rouhani’s demeanour, his smile, his positive interaction with the world have created a new sense of ease,” says Ibrahim Pourfaraj, the president of Iran’s tour operators’ association.
Thomas, a 29-year-old engineer from Stuttgart who only wished to give his first name, says the nuclear issue is the only thing he hears about Iran in the news back home. “What we see is totally different than what we hear from the outside,” he says. “The Iranians are very hospitable and very curious.”
Pilgrims from Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon and Pakistan make up 60 per cent of Iran’s visitors. But the government’s main push is to recapture the spending power of Europe, Asia and America.
For Iran – whose currency, the rial, has been depressed by rampant inflation – tourism offers a foreign-exchange windfall.
The cities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Yazd, all steeped in culture, are considered Iran’s top attractions.
People appear to be coming back. Official figures show that, tourist numbers were up 35 per cent year-on-year at the end of March to 4.5 million, bringing in US$6 billion. Iran, with 17 Unesco-listed World Heritage sites, wants 20 million visitors within a decade.
However, the nuclear deal remains but a hope and tour operators know optimism can vanish quickly. For the moment, local guides are filling their pockets.
“This is a new wave. We have between 300 per cent and 400 per cent more visitors,” says Mohsen Hajisaeid, who was looking after a group from Hong Kong.
“For some languages we don’t even have a guide to help them,” he explains.
Iran’s shortfalls are not confined to translators. Although many hotels have been built in the sprawling conurbations of Mashhad, Isfahan and Shiraz, the closest city to Persepolis, they are primarily for the domestic market. In the tourism sector there is a specific need for customer-focused training and more development.
“Our capabilities are limited compared to the influx of tourists,” said Massoud Soltani-Far, one of Iran’s vice-presidents, at an industry conference.
More than 900 projects are being undertaken at a cost of $200m, but there are still significant gaps in the market.
“Transport and four-star or five-star hotels are not there to meet the demand,” Mr Soltani-Far explained, perhaps alluding to well-publicised problems with the fitting-out of Iranian planes, because of sanctions.
But there are bright spots at the top of the market.
The Jewels of Persia, a luxury train, arrived in Tehran on October 27 on an all-inclusive 15-day trip, with tickets costing between $9,000 and $14,000. Such trips may start to breed unease, however. Some conservative MPs are demanding tourists be given guidance on how to behave as soon as they arrive in the country. A recent spate of acid attacks on Iranian women in Isfahan because they were not properly veiled – though the authorities have denied such a link – has highlighted the requirements.
To those travelling to Iran though, the warm welcome is outweighing concerns about dress, security, or the need for high-class hotels and slick service. “The country is safe – maybe more so than some European countries,” says Thomas.
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