Iran is top destination for French tourists, Vice president says

Calling Iran as one of the top destinations for French travelers, Vice President for Tourism, Masoud Soltanifar, has urged French companies to invest in the tourism sector in Iran.

Speaking at a meeting with visiting French trade delegation on Monday, Soltanifar said that Iran would like to use the experiences of French companies in tourism industry.

A delegation of ‪‎France’s main business lobby group, ‪‎Medef, comprising about 130 firms, including top companies such as ‪Total and ‪‎Peugeot, arrived in Tehran Monday with the aim of encouraging future trade deals.

Soltanifar welcomed French investors in the field of hotel construction and hotel management and added that France’s participation in building two hotels in Iran is beginning of cooperation between Tehran and Paris in tourism industry.

The French leading hotel operator AccorHotels last week announced that it has signed a management agreement with an Iranian firm to open two hotels near Tehran’s international airport.

Novotel hotel, near Tehran’s international airport, is scheduled to open on 15 October 

Under the contract, the Iranian firm Aria Ziggurat Tourism Development Company will use the Novotel and Ibis brands, both owned by French hotel giant AccorHotels, for 15 years starting next month.

Soltanifar added: “Iran is one of the top destinations for French tourists. But they [French tourist] were deprived of visiting this land of grandeur and beauty mainly due to unjust and illegal sanctions over the last years.”

Iran’s vice president said that that the number of tourists visiting Iran over the last two years has increased to more than 5 million.

Hotel Shah Abbasi, Isfahan

“We want to use all internal and external potential in tourism industry to build five-star hotels and to develop transportation system.” He added.

France Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll, in turn, put an emphasis on several thousand years of civilization of Iran and said that Iran has numerous historical sites and rich handicrafts.

Considering plenty of similarities between the two countries, he added, tourism will be expanded between Iran and France.

Le Foll mentioned that Iran needs training for restaurant and hotel management, which France can transfer its experiences in this field

fair to share...