President Urges Tourism Boost on Kish Island
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the country’s southern island of Kish has considerable potential for attracting tourists, and called for programs to boost tourism industry in the Persian Gulf island.
Paying an unofficial visit to Kish on Monday, President Rouhani said the island, located south of Iran in the Persian Gulf, has the capacity to host 3.5 million tourists each year with its “mild weather conditions, sufficient infrastructural equipment, as well as airplane and ship terminals.”
He said the tourism industry in Kish Island, as one of the country’s Free Economic Zones, should improve with a new attitude, in a way that it meets the Muslim tourists’ demands as well.
The president once again expressed his administration’s resolve to provide fresh impetus for the development of the country’s southern coasts.
In February, Rouhani along with his cabinet members paid a visit to the southern province of Hormozgan.
During his trip, the president said his administration has devised development plans for the country’s southern littoral provinces on the rims of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, including initiatives to develop new industries.
Addressing a huge gathering of people in Hormozgan at the time, the Iranian chief executive had hailed the province as a “very important and strategic” one for the country, noting that plans are currently underway to give a fresh impetus to that region’s economy and industry.
“One of the objectives of the administration ... will be to make the southern coasts and islands in the Persian Gulf region and the Sea of Oman flourish,” the president announced.
He went on to say that Iran’s southern coastline, which stretches about 2,000 kilometers, needs to develop by the creation and promotion of industries such as steelmaking and ship-building.
“Hormozgan province will become one of the very important hubs of the country’s steel (industry),” Rouhani underlined.
He further unveiled plans to revive ship-building, tourism and fishery industries in that province.
He also noted that a series of new energy projects will be implemented in the southern province, like plans to construct new gas and oil pipelines and to set up petrochemical industries, stressing that those projects will rejuvenate Hormozgan.
