TEHRAN- The Iranian government has paid more than 37 billion rials (about $1 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) in loans to 630 crafters in the western province of Ilam to protect them from impacts of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, CHTN reported. 

Handicrafts is a source of income for families and has a significant impact on creating home-based businesses in the region, which are now effected by the coronavirus pandemic, provincial tourism chief Abdolmalek Shanbehzadeh said on Wednesday. 

Back in April, the government announced it will support those which are grappling with fiscal problems by offering loans with a 12-percent interest rate. The Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts also suggested a rescue package for tourism businesses.

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

Optimistic forecasts, however, expect Iran to achieve a tourism boom after coronavirus contained, believing its impact would be temporary and short-lived for a country that ranked the third fastest-growing tourism destination in 2019.

Latest available data show eight million tourists visited the Islamic Republic during the first ten months of the past Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2019).

ABU/MG