In a situation where the political and security environme of the region has eered a new phase with the escalation of foreign tensions against Iran and the danger of war is felt more than ever, the activists of the tourism industry and the private sector have warned about the impact of the curre situation in causing more damage to tourism offices, especially the offices that were active in the issue of incoming tours to the coury and had travel orders to Iran, and asked the governme and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage to announce the conditions of “Force Majeure Tourism” or the declaration of a state of emergency in tourism.
“Syed Mustafa Mousavi”, the head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce’s tourism commission, emphasized the critical situation of inbound and domestic tourism in the coury, and called for the governme and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage to declare a state of tourism emergency and ideify “force majeure” conditions.
According to the report of the Communications Committee of the Tourism Commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Mousavi announced:
If this issue is ignored, travel service offices active in the field of inbound tourism will face heavy financial losses and bankruptcy.
Inbound tours at the impasse of iernational obligations
The head of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, referring to the coracts created to hold inbound tours to the coury by travel agencies that operate in the field of attracting foreign tourists to Iran, announced:
These offices have signed coracts with foreign agencies and tour operators mohs and even a year before the tours. Coracts that include financial obligations, hotel reservations, transportation, guides and ancillary services that are applicable under normal conditions. But now, with the change in political conditions and the increase in the risk of traveling to Iran, their implemeation has faced a serious problem.
Seyed Mustafa Mousavi emphasized:
In a situation where foreign threats from the United States and some European couries have escalated and even the possibility of a military conflict is discussed, private sector activists cannot be expected to impleme all past commitmes as under normal conditions, and therefore it is necessary to declare a state of tourism emergency.
force majeure; The only way to save tourism offices
Seyed Mostafa Mousavi, referring to the new wave of travel warnings against Iran and the evacuation of some foreign embassies in the coury, said:
According to reports, more than 20 couries have issued warnings for travel to Iran or increased the level of their previous warnings. The iernal conditions in Iran also caused the cancellation or suspension of the incoming tours to Iran due to the external threats and earlier by completely cutting off the iernet for three weeks and affected the decision of foreign tourists to travel to Iran. Travel offices also did not have the possibility to coact foreign partners to announce the status of travel to Iran, and for this reason, these issues can lead to requests for compensation from Iran travel service offices due to the cancellation of incoming tours.
Mousavi added:
In this situation, in addition to compensating the losses of foreign partners, Iran’s travel service offices must also pay damages to hotels and tourism facilities in the coury for the cancellation of tours and coracts they have concluded, which leads to more damage to the coury’s travel service offices.
The head of tourism commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce announced:
The only practical solution in the curre situation is the official announceme of the force majeure situation in Iran’s tourism. A move that could allow travel agencies to postpone commitmes or renegotiate coracts without paying hefty fines.
He warned:
If this situation is not recognized, Iranian offices must pay the cancellation of tours to foreign parties; While the cancellation of the tours is outside of their will and is caused by the macro political and security conditions of the coury.
Request from the governme and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage
The head of the Tourism Commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce asked the governme and especially the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts to take a decision as soon as possible to support the travel service offices of the coury, which suffered a lot of losses in the last one moh. Mousavi said:
Declaring a tourism emergency is not only a measure to support the private sector, but it can also preve the collapse of the coury’s incoming tourism infrastructure in the short term.
He added:
Tourism experts believe that delay in decision-making can have long-term consequences for Iran’s iernational tourism reputation.
The head of tourism commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce added:
Iran’s tourism industry struggled for years to return to the global market, and now more than ever, it needs legal protections and smart policies.
