Iraqi tourists lead foreign visitors to Iran in 2023, WTTC report

Shafaq News/ Iran's tourism sector significantly increased in 2023, with Iraqis leading foreign visitors.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Iraqis emerged as the top foreign tourists, followed by Turkish visiting Iran, contributing to a growth of 21% in the Iranian tourism industry.

Specifically, Iraqi tourists accounted for 37% of the total foreign tourists visiting Iran in 2023.

Other countries contributing to Iran's tourism included Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and Lebanon.

Leisure tourism dominated the landscape, comprising 97.7% of total tourist trips to Iran in 2023, with the remaining 2.3% attributed to business-related travel.

Notably, the economic impact of tourism in Iran was substantial, with foreign tourists spending 70 trillion tomans ($16.6 billion) in the country in 2023. This marked an 83.6% increase compared to 2022.

The WTTC report indicated the global significance of the tourism industry, with its share of global GDP reaching 23.2% in 2023, amounting to 9.1% of the total global GDP. The industry's value surged to $9.9 trillion during the same period, underlining its economic impact on a worldwide scale.