Persepol offers travellers to see Iran in a different light. The company's owner Amir Mousavi has told Sputnik how Russians are interested in visiting Iran, whether halal tourism is attractive to them, what difficulties they have, and how the tourism industry has changed with the introduction of tough US sanctions on Iran.
Sputnik: How long have you been working in tourism? How comfortable is it to promote halal tourism?
Amir Mousavi: I have been living in Tatarstan for a long time, I have my own carpet business. We've not been in the tourism sector we've so long. For the first time my company has taken part in the Russia Halal Expo. During the 2018 World Cup a lot of tourists from Iran came to Tatarstan. I must thank the leadership of the republic for creating all the necessary conditions. Iranians love Tatarstan very much and willingly come here. On the other hand, we noticed that residents of Tatarstan are very interested in Iran, especially when the country is represented in the media in a negative way. It is for this purpose that we decided to set up a travel agency in order to introduce Russians to the ancient culture of Iran. We are not after big financial gains in tourism; we are rather working to improve the image of Iran in the eyes of foreign tourists. Taking into account the fact that in Iran there are a number of restrictions for foreigners, in particular with regard to clothing, halal tourism seems to be the most profitable category. More than 50 million Muslims live in the Russian Federation, so halal tours to Iran are in demand.
Amir Mousavi: We also offer basic tours to show a number of the most famous cities in Iran. There are also non-standard extreme tours with special routes. For example, the desert rally or mountain climbing. We have organised trips for around 500 tourists from Russia in the last two years. We also offer Iranians tours to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volga cruises (Tatarstan), as well Golden Ring tours. All our clients, especially those who have travelled to Iran for the first time, leave only positive feedback, their attitude towards Iran changes completely after they visit the country. It is also pleasant that our countries have simplified the visa regime. This makes our work much easier.
Sputnik: How have the US sanctions affected Iran's tourism industry?
Amir Mousavi: The US has failed to paralyze the tourism industry, on the contrary, it made it more attractive to foreigners. As the saying goes, the forbidden fruit is always the sweetest, foreigners want to learn more about the country that the US wants to enslave with sanctions. In addition, the fall of Iran's national currency has made Iran much cheaper for foreigners, especially if you look at prices in foreign currency (euro or dollars). The image of Iran that has been created in the [Western] media is very frightening. This has led to the decline of the total number of foreign tourists to Iran. But those who have previously visited this country, continue to come and travel around it. Therefore, I believe that the sanctions did not have a significant impact on the tourism industry in Iran.
The views expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.
