TEHRAN – Iran eyes to attract more travelers from France as it has long been imprinted on the minds of French people particularly those interested in historical and ancient destinations, deputy tourism minister Vali Teymouri said on Sunday.

“Apart from success in attracting sightseers, France is also a special source for outbound travelers, sending tourists to different countries… And Iran is known as a historical and cultural destination in the minds of tourists of this country… Therefore, it is considered as one of the main travel markets for the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Teymouri noted.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Tabatabei, the newly-appointed cultural attaché to France, adding: “Under one of articles of the strategic plan for [the development of the national] tourism industry, which is recently declared to take effect by the government, Iran’s cultural attaches also double as tourism attaches of the Islamic Republic that enables them to concurrently work on portraying the real image of Iran and trying to help eliminate Iranofobia.”

Tabatabaei for his part welcomed proposals the deputy minister put forward. He also expressed readiness to make maximum use of the existing capacities for the development of tourism in the Islamic Republic.

Teymouri had previously announced that anti-Iranian sentiment or Iranophobia, which has long been forged and spread by some Western governments and media, has not prevented foreign travelers from visiting the country. “I, as an expert, who have been working in the field of tourism for the past twenty years, believe that the main challenge of our travel industry is that Iran is internationally unknown. Moreover, over the past years, an Iranophobia project [orchestrated] by our enemies have been added too.”

AFM/MG