TEHRAN -- During the past five months, 39,000 foreign tourists have visited the city of Qom.

The Manager of the Qom branch of Iran Touring and Tourism Organization, Mohammadali Fayyazi said that most of the tourists came from Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Persian Gulf region.

He noted that compared with last year's figures, there has been an 8 percent increase in the number of foreign tourists visiting the region.

He added, "Forty-five hotel managers will finish their training by the end of February 2003. We have made an agreement to send these trainee managers and employees to India in order to take college courses on tourism and hotel management. With the increase in investment in the hotel industry, initial agreements have also been made to construct ten more hotels, hotel apartments, camping hotels, and reception areas."

Qom currently has twelve hotel apartments and forty-one holiday inns.