URUMIEH, West Azarbaijan Province The Head of West Azarbaijan Province's Touring and Tourism Organization (TTO) Asghar Hadifar said here Monday that expansion of tourism industry will be realized only through public participation.

Hadifar told IRNA, "The profitable tourism industry cannot be stimulated just by itself, but rather it should be turned into a national belief."

Referring to the numerous natural attractions and prominent historical monuments in West Azarbaijan Province, he stressed that tourism may be expanded by making further investments.

Pointing to the Religions, Ethnics, and Dialogue Among Civilizations Festival held recently in West Azarbaijan Province, he said that the guests attending the festival, expressed their interest in visiting the province again as well as encouraging others to do so.

The one-week festival attended by 200 local and foreign guests was held in Urumieh, with the participants visiting the historical monuments of other West Azarbaijan cities including Khoy, Maku, Salmas, Takab, Naqadeh, Mahabad, Urumieh, and the islands of Urumieh Lake.

One of the provincial cultural authorities said that West Azarbaijan Province is placed second from the viewpoint of the variety and number of historical, cultural, and natural attractions.

Over 1,000 historical monuments have been so far identified in West Azarbaijan Province, 200 of which have been registered as national monuments.

Meanwhile, a six-day festival on religions, ethnics, and dialogue among civilizations was held in the northwestern city of Maku in West Azarbaijan Province last week.

According to the report published by the Persian daily ****Hambastegi****, a conference, held on the sidelines of the festival, was attended by the governors of Urumieh and Chaldoran, French ambassador in Iran, the Argentinean charge d'affairs as well as a number of European and Asian diplomats.

Earlier, the governor of Maku Mohammad-Amin Rezazadeh told the inaugural ceremony that there are over 400 historical, archaeological and cultural monuments in the city and 15 of them have so far been registered as national monuments.

He added that some of the monuments are distinguished by their unique cultural, architectural and artistic characteristics and have an antiquity of up to 7,000 years.

The conference was also attended by a number of religious figures from various faiths, including Armenians, Assyrians and Zoroastrians.