Iran’s Tourism Industry Marks Steep Decline
At the peak of the social and economic crisis, official reports indicate an unprecedented decline in domestic tourism in Iran. The latest report, published by the Iranian Statistical Center, shows that the number of domestic trips in 2021 decreased to a fourth of the domestic trips taken in the spring of 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic is the most important factor in the decline of domestic travel in the year 1400 (2021-2022). But close examination of these changes in the 1390s decade shows that severe economic crises have also reduced domestic tourism.
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Usually, half the total trips taken per year are day trips. In the spring of 1391 (2012-2013), this ratio was about 44%, meaning that out of approximately 71 million trips taken during this season, about 31 million were day trips. In the spring of 1398 (2019-2020), the total number of household trips reached about 102 million, of which about 55 million, or 54%, were day trips. In the year 1400 (2021-2022), out of the total of 25 million trips taken in that year, 14 million trips (58%) were day trips.
Statistics indicate that the travel pattern of Iranians has shifted towards day trips over the past decade. This is a phenomenon that can be attributed to the exacerbation of the economic crisis. This crisis has not only affected the quality and duration of Iranian travelers' trips, but has also impacted the overall travel experience of households.
Travel experience in households
Over the past decade, at least one member of 60 to 70 percent of Iranian households traveled at least once in the spring, based on the results of seasonal surveys conducted by the Statistical Center of Iran. However, this ratio reversed in the year 1400 (2021-2022), when the proportion of families who went on trips decreased to 30 percent, while the percentage of families who did not go on a trip was about 70%.
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Traveling to foreign countries
Another indicator mentioned in the periodical surveys is the number of foreign trips. According to the results of these surveys, the total number of foreign trips in the year 1400 (2021) is less than 50,000. Just two years before that, in the spring of 1398 (2019), around 500,000 people traveled abroad. Ten years earlier, in the spring of 1391 (2012), nearly one million people traveled abroad.
In other words, the total number of foreign trips taken in the entire year of 1400 is about one-tenth of the spring trips two years ago and one-twentieth of the spring trips 10 years ago.
The significant decrease in travel during the years when COVID-19-related restrictions were in place in many countries is not unusual. That said, the overall trend of foreign trips had been steadily declining in the 1390s (2010s). For example, the number of foreign trips taken by households in the last pre-COVID-19 period, i.e., spring 1398, was less than 500,000, which is about half the number of trips taken by Iranians in the spring of 1391.
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Motivations for travel
Analysis of data from 7 seasonal surveys conducted in the decade of 1390 (2011-2021) shows that less than a third of trips were for the purpose of “tourism and leisure”. Instead, the reason for more than 40% of trips is “visiting friends and acquaintances”. The motivation for 10-14% of trips is “medical treatment”, and the reason for 5-10% of travels is “pilgrimage”.
The ratios are different compared to previous years in 1400 (2021). In this period, leisure trips decreased from about 30% to less than 20%. Also, trips for the purpose of “visiting friends and acquaintances" increased 45%, and the share of pilgrimages decreased by 3%.
