Civilizations have always been based upon culture. A static phenomenon, civilization can be seen in old towers and monuments; while culture, a dynamic phenomenon, should be seen in empathy, interdependence and collective life of people.
Tourism is a powerful tool for understanding other civilizations and cultures and would help the enrichment and growth of them. Moreover, development of tourist industry would help promote bilateral dialogue through which cultures can get closer to each other. Tourism is an advanced industry which needs scientific strategies for its development. It has vital impact on other social fundamentals, while going hand in hand with sustainable development.
World Tourism Organization defines sustainable development as one that not only preserves cultural and natural resources, but also constantly increases current capacities to create job opportunities, by making use of high speed, precision, order and promotion of society’s well being.
Developing tourist industry is an effective factor in economic development, market promotion, equal distribution of income, flow of capital and wealth, developing deprived areas, creating employment and rendering social services. According to World Tourism Organization, the income from tourist industry constitutes over 8% of total export revenues and creates 34% of employment opportunities in the world. Tourism also brings an annual income of $500 billion which indicates the significance of this industry.
Home to a great variety of tourist attractions, Iran is according to a UNESCO survey, one of the world’s top ten countries in terms of tourist attractions. Historical sites still remain virgin here after thousands of years to they create the ambience of ancient times in every mind.
Every part of this country enjoys a different climate in each season. Moreover, its seas and southern port cities, forests and northern green pastures, mysterious deserts and northwestern mountainous nature covered with snow, are attractive features of Iranian ecotourism. There are tens of villages with a traditional architecture in Iran; they are home to people of various cultures who receive tourists with their intimate hospitality.
Tourist industry has a close relation with transport industry to the extent that a quick growth of tourism can be attributed to sufficient transportation facilities, particularly air transport. For long distances, air transport is the most reliable, cost-effective and convenient means of traveling. In 1945, 20 million tourists traveled by air, while this figure reached over one billion 45 years later in 1990. High speed, large capacity, competitive prices and high safety standards in air travel have been driving factors behind this expansion.
Islamic Republic of Iran Airline (Homa) with 50 years of experience in air transport, enjoying skilled and expert manpower, is one of the largest airlines in the region that can play a significant role in the expansion of tourist industry. Homa has flights to 38 international and 23 domestic destinations transporting about 8 million passengers annually. It owns 33 airplanes - including Boeing and Airbus - plus 17 leased airplanes. Iran Air has recently finalized the purchase of four Airbus 300s from France to be delivered over the following four years.
In addition to transportation, Homa has also expanded activities to tourist industry through its five-star hotels in Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz and Bandar Abbas. Homa Hotels are one of the largest chain hotels in the country. Homa has also set up new structures to play a more active role in the field of tourism through aligning its activities in this field with research works and also the improvement of potentials by which it would have a more active presence in international market. Homa, as an umbrella organization, has committed itself to cede 49% of its shares to private sector and assist the private companies to find their proper status in the future competitive market.

Both loyal to their national values, Iranians and Japanese can expand cultural ties through tourism

Iran-Japan Cooperation on Tourism

Japan is a large country with a longstanding civilization and a civilized nation. Amazing growth of Japan in the last years of the 20th century was because of its hard-working people who, through their empathy and solidarity have solved their post-war problems and paved the way for a multi-faceted development. Their commitment to moral, religious and human values and respecting traditions are outstanding features of Japanese people.
Like the Japanese, Iranians are also loyal to their values and therefore, are interested in expanding cultural ties with Japan. Iran especially welcomes cultural tourists and believes there should be bilateral cultural relations between the two countries based on mutual respect.
Japanese market is also important from the economic point of view: Japanese tourists spent $33 billion in 1997 across the globe ranking third among the world’s tourists. Out of 16 million Japanese tourists only 7,000 traveled to Iran in that year, while opinion polls indicate that Japanese tourists have great interest in Iranian tourist sites.
Japanese market enjoys variability with tourists from various age groups who have high purchasing power. For cultural and economic reasons, we are determined to identify the interests of Japanese people in a bid to offer high-quality services to them when they visit Iran. This way, we can gain a greater share of Japanese tourist market. We are also determined to strengthen strategic ties with our Japanese partners and enter into joint ventures in order to expand the exchange of tourists between the two countries. In the past year, over 20 million Iranians traveled abroad. Undoubtedly, a considerable number of them may become interested in Japan’s tourist attractions.
Exchanging of tourists and organizing joint tour packages to third countries can promote bilateral tourist relations between Iran and Japan. Achieving such an objective necessitates hard work. In addition to infrastructural investments to prepare ground for development of tourist industry, it is also imperative to invest in information technology, on the eve of the third millennium and in the information age given the fact that tourism has a close relation with information.
Of major strategies are training skilled tour guides who are well-versed in Japanese language and culture. Recently, Japanese flight attendants have been employed in Tehran-Tokyo flights of Iran Air in order to offer better services to Japanese passengers.
Iran is ready to hold negotiations with Japanese officials to explore new grounds for cooperation between the two countries and also to identify the interest of Japanese companies in Iranian tourist market and that of other countries along the Silk Road.