Tehran, 9 June 2005 (CHN) – Iran is ready to welcome foreign tourists and investors, as individuals or groups, announced director general of the research and marketing office of Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) in a visit with 17 German, Austrian, and Swiss reporters.

“With new tourist facilities including visa issuing in airports and opening of equipped hotels, foreign tourists can easily visit Iran,” the director general of the research office of ICHTO, Ahad Ghazayi told the German-speaking reporters visiting Iran.

The foreign reporters who had traveled to Iran upon an invitation by the ICHTO visited different cities of the country including Isfahan, Shiraz, Kashan, Tehran, and Kish.

In this meeting, Ghazayi talked about the important role that reporters and media can play in providing a real picture of the safe society of Iran.

Iran enjoys a diverse collection of tourist attractions, and major cities such as Isfahan, Shiraz, and Mashad are just a few examples of many other cities and towns throughout the country spotted with historical, natural tourist attractions. These are just in need of proper marketing and introduction to the tourist world, explained Ghazayi.

Natural resources, historical sites, and mineral waters are inviting foreign tourists to Iran and attempts such as modernizing old caravanserais and turning them into inns and motels will help their reception.

According to Ghazayi, like all other countries around the world, Iran has its specific traditions and as WTO affirms it, each country is allowed to enforce limitations in line with its culture and all tourists entering that country are expected to respect those limitations.

“These tourist limitations cannot be an obstacle leading to our country’s deprivation of tourists coming from other cultures,” expressed Ghazayi.