TEHRAN – Iranian travelers registered a record high of more than 5 million overnight stays at accommodation centers across the country during the month of Khordad (May 21–June 20), CHTN reported. 

The figure shows that the tourism industry of Iran is rebounding despite suffering from a major setback in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, marking a monthly record high for overnight stays over the past few months, said Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan on Thursday. 

Iran limited travel between its major cities to halt the spread of the coronavirus in March, which led to a drastic reduction in the number of travelers. The government also closed cultural heritage museums and historical sites across the country in a preventive measure amid fears of coronavirus outbreak.

The minister also noted that the tourists as well as accommodation centers need to meet strict health protocols and expressed his hope that travelers prevent the tourist attractions to go back into lockdown by following health protocols.

Earlier last week, deputy tourism minister Vali Teymouri announced that a total of 5,703,679 people made overnight stays during the month of Khordad at authorized accommodation centers such as hotels, traditional lodging houses, eco-lodge units, pilgrim's guest houses, apartment hotels, guest houses, and tourist centers. 

He also noted that during Khordad, over 11,000 surveillance visits were made to tourist facilities including accommodation centers, restaurants, catering businesses, travel agencies, restaurants across 31 provinces of the country, which shows the ministry’s simultaneous attention to travel and travel safety. 

Months ago, many countries, including the Islamic Republic, started imposing travel restrictions to help curb the spread of novel coronavirus, restricting air, road, and rail travel to a great extent.

Some experts expect Iran to achieve a tourism boom after coronavirus contained, believing its impact would be temporary and short-lived for a country that ranked the third fastest-growing tourism destination in 2019.

The latest available data show eight million tourists visited the Islamic Republic during the first ten months of the past Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2019).

ABU/MG