Iran facilitates Chinese tourists' visits to museums

TEHRAN, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran is increasing the convenience of Chinese visitors to some of its museums, not least by offering Chinese versions of artifact introductions, said an Iranian museum official on Tuesday.

Hadi Mirzaei, director general of the General Office of Museums in the Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of a press conference in Iran's capital city of Tehran to announce the events and programs scheduled to be held in the country during the National Cultural Heritage Week on May 18-24 every year.

"We have prepared catalogues for Chinese tourists in their own language to enable them to gain more knowledge about Iran's culture while visiting the country's museums and sites," said Mirzaei.

Mirzaei praised the Chinese government's policy of defining Iran as one of the top six priority tourist destinations for Chinese travelers. He noted that this policy has attracted much more Chinese visitors to the country since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 20, compared to the same period last year.

Speaking to Xinhua in February, Moslem Shojaei, director general for marketing and international tourism development at the Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, said that Chinese tourists visiting Iran exceeded 54,000 from March 21, 2023 to Jan. 20, 2024.

He added each Chinese tourist spent nearly 1,000 U.S. dollars on average during their stay in Iran, which has been better prepared for hosting Chinese tourists.

Eyeing a great inrush of Chinese tourists, Iran has, since 2019, unilaterally granted a visa-free policy for China and trained dozens of Chinese-speaking tour guides.

The Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts now plans to provide training in Chinese language and cuisine to Iranian hotel staffers and chefs. "China is the world's largest tourism market," said Shojaei.