TEHRAN - A total of seven tourism-related projects, worth 376 billion rials ($8.9 million at the official exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar) are scheduled to be launched across Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.
The projects which include tourist complexes and eco-lodge units are expected to generate 85 job opportunities upon their completion, the deputy provincial tourism chief Mojtaba Mirhosseini said on Sunday, CHTN reported.
The official voiced hope the ongoing projects to be completed as soon as possible “to boost tourism infrastructure” across the province.
Last year, former Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan said that the development of the travel industry across Sistan-Baluchestan province is among the top priorities for the ministry. “I am interested in Sistan-Baluchestan, and the development of this province is a priority for this ministry and the government,” the former minister stated.
“The majority of my travels during my tenure has been to Sistan-Baluchestan, which I consider as a safe province with significant values in terms of culture, history, handicrafts, and tourism.”
The collective province -- Sistan in the north and Baluchestan in the south -- accounts for one of the driest regions of Iran with a slight increase in rainfall from east to west, and an obvious rise in humidity in the coastal regions. In ancient times, the region was a crossword of the Indus Valley and the Babylonian civilizations.
The province possesses special significance because of being located in a strategic and transit location, especially Chabahar which is the only ocean port in Iran and the best and easiest access route of the middle Asian countries to free waters.
The vast province is home to several distinctive archaeological sites and natural attractions, including two UNESCO World Heritage sites, namely Shahr-e-Soukhteh (Burnt City) and Lut desert.