The Iranian government has announced that it will approve free visas during November and December, the months in which the World Cup is due to take place, in the hope of attracting international tourism.
This Wednesday, Iran announced that they will be offering free visas during the 2022 Qatar World Cup tournament in a bid to attract tourists.
"Visas will be free during the 2022 World Cup", informed Ali Bahadori Yahromí, the government's spokesperson, on Twitter.
The spokesperson affirmed that it is tactic to attract tourists to the country by taking advantage of its proximity to Qatar. This will therefore provide an economic boost to the industry and country as a whole.
For example, the current cost of obtaining a visa to travel from Spain to Iran is 75 euros. Therefore, any Spaniard wanting to travel to Iran this winter will have an extra 75 euros spending money in their pockets.
Iranian tourism minister, Ezzatollah Zarghami, explained recently that the country has spent months working on the idea.
"A large number of travellers, principally young people, will arrive in Qatar to go to the World Cup. This presents an excpetional opportunity to attract tourists", said Zarghami to the Iranian media.
Iran hosts 26 UNESCO World Heritage sights. Amongst them is the most famous Persépolis. The country also contains diverse ecozones which attract visitors interested in both the mountain and dessert landscapes. However, the country has not been luring in as mant tourists as it would like.
In 2018, the USA revoked its 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and returned to economically sanctioning the Middle Eastern nation. This caused a blow to the tourism sector as it saw a big reduction in the number of tourists entering the country, especially those from Europe.
In 2019, 8.8 million international tourists entered the country. 7 million of those were from neighbouring and regional nations such as Irak, Azerbaiyán, Afganistán, Turquía and Pakistán.
After the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic at the start of 2020, Iranian tourism fell by 94%.