Hans-Udo Muzel, the German Ambassador to Tehran met and conferred with the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Minister Ali Asghar Munesan at the ministry.

Minister Munesan said at the meeting: Germany is among the top three European countries whose tourists choose Iran as their destination and the Iranians, too, love the German people.

“Iran is eager for broader cooperation with Germany in every possible field, especially in cultural heritage, tourism, and handicrafts field, and our two countries have fortunately always enjoyed excellent relations,” he added.

The minister of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts further reiterated: In the field of handicrafts, which is one of the great privileges of our country, we are ready to cosponsor joint exhibitions with Germany. Also, in tourism field, after the Coronal pandemic, we hope the situation will get back to normal so that the two countries tourism industries get full benefit.

“Our tourism is manly in cultural and historical fields, but just like the previous years in addition to those fields the other tourism fields of our country such as ecotourism, and agricultural tourism, too, are available for the enthusiasts. Meanwhile, in addition to hotels, we have provided special tourist residence centers, including many historical homes, which I believe has been a wise move that has provided both attractive atmospheres and cost us minimally to furnish.

He added that although during President Ruhani’s two governments 400 new hotels have been made, turning those historical homes into luxuries traditional residences has attracted the broad attention of Iranian and foreign tourists. “Then we focused on village homes, and introduced their traditions and special foods to the tourists as a special privilege of the Iranian tourism industry.

“2,200 village homes were equipped for tourists, which has also provided small businesses for the villagers, and this has also led to faster development of our villages and greater satisfaction of the foreign tourists.

He added that the Iranian ancient caravansaries, too, some of which date back to thousands of years ago and were on the verge of destruction, were reconstructed by the people themselves and turned into hotel-caravansaries at the service of the national tourism industry. 

“We then focused on farms, turning them into tourism attractions, and all these policies have contributed to provision of a broad range of capacities for attracting tourists to Iran,” said Munesan.

On sponsoring joint museum exhibitions, the minister said: We can cosponsor exhibitions and museums, which are among the policies of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ministry, and both I and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif support the idea. They can be held in such attractive locations as the Saadabad Palaces Complex, or the Niavaran Palace, which are both at our disposal for sponsoring cultural events. Before the Coronal pandemic we sponsored attractive cultural programs with some European countries at Niavanan Palace.

Ambassador Hans-Udo Muzel, too, said in the meeting: Cosponsoring joint cultural events is of great importance for Germany, since they are like bridges that bring the nations closer together.

“We are also ready for broader expert level cooperation in cultural heritage field, so that the experts of both countries will get chances to benefit from each other’s experience and also after the Coronal pandemic the ground will prepared for greater presence of both countries’ tourists in the two countries,” he added.

Ambassador Muzel also had some proposals for holding joint cultural exhibitions with Iran, asking for elimination of obstacles and facilitating the process of holding them.