TEHRAN – A total of 31 tourism-related projects, worth 209 billion rials ($741,000) have been implemented across the northern Golestan province during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-December 21, 2021), the provincial tourism chief has announced.

“The projects have supported tourism development,” CHTN quoted Rahman Farmani as saying on Monday. 

Golestan offers very valuable capabilities and attractions for tourism, cultural heritage and handicrafts, and has always attracted tourists due to its diverse climate and proximity to Mashhad, the official added. 

The expansion of the infrastructure of areas with tourism potential in the province will lead to more travelers staying in these areas in the coming years, he noted. 

Golestan is reportedly embracing some 2,500 historical and natural sites, with UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus – a one-millennium-old brick tower – amongst its most famous. Narratives say the tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond. The UNESCO comments that the tower bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.

According to data compiled by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, over 2,400 tourism-related projects were underway across the country with a total estimated cost of 1,370 trillion rials (around $32 billion). 

Iran expects to reap a bonanza from its numerous tourist spots such as bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, mausoleums, churches, towers, and mansions, of which 26 are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

ABU/AFM