TEHRAN - The Iranian Hoteliers Association has announced that hotels in the country have been allowed to increase prices up to 30 percent as of September 22.

Despite the coronavirus outbreak, which reduced travels and caused closure of hotels and tourist service centers, the prices have increased up to 30 percent, while it could have risen by 100 percent if the inflation rate had been taken into account, the association’s head Jamshid Hamzehzadeh said on Wednesday.

The prices of hotels for foreign travelers are also being reviewed as the prices in Iran for foreign tourists are very low due to the changes in the exchange rate, however, as there are no foreign tourists in the country over the coronavirus, there is no rush to decide, the official noted.

In September, Hamzehzadeh announced that considering the number of tourists and travelers, which has decreased drastically, increasing hotel prices does not make sense and will not increase the income of hoteliers.

He added that due to the outbreak of the coronavirus hotels are offering up to 60 percent discounts instead of raising their prices, however, with these amounts of discounts, the occupancy rate of hotels is less than five to seven percent.

Back in June, the official announced that the outbreak of the new coronavirus has inflicted a loss of 60,000 billion rials (about $1.4 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials) on the Iranian hospitality industry in four months.

The government has allocated a 750-trillion-rial (about $18 billion) package to help low-income households and small- and medium-sized enterprises affected by the coronavirus.

ABU/MG