The country closed its borders soon after the virus spread. But recently, the Anti-Virus Taskforce on the advice of the Ministry of Tourism allowed the borders to reopen.
During 2020-2021, Iran's tourism sector was severely affected by the pandemic and a loss of USD 1.2 billion was recorded. Many hoteliers and tour operators faced problems such as bankruptcy, unemployment and debt internationally.
On 19 September, Izzatullah Zarghami, Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, announced plans to lift visa restrictions to help the tourism industry. Also, the number of people testing positive for the virus in the country continues to decline in recent weeks.
By 22 September, that number has gone down to 300 people. Zarghami's predecessor, Ali-Asghar Maunsan, said the number of foreign travellers going to Iran had dropped significantly due to the virus outbreak.
Mounesan said, “Tourism of the country was growing before the corona [outbreak], its revenues reached $11.7 billion in 2019, which accounted for 2.8% of GDP, nearing the average share of tourism in the world GDP, which was 3.2 percent.”
Before the outbreak, Iran was ranked as the second fastest growing nation in tourism according to the World Tourism Organization.
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