In a meeting with the Iraqi ambassador to Tehran on Monday, Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Reza Salehi Amiri stressed the need to enhance bilateral interactions and exchanges.

The minister said Iran’s goal is to realize the Iraqi prime minister’s proposal to raise economic and accommodation-based tourism to 10 million people annually, with an annual growth rate of 1.5 million tourists.

Referring to agreements between the heads of government of Iran and Iraq, Salehi Amiri said that approximately 3.6 million Iraqi tourists currently visit Iran each year, while a similar number of Iranian citizens travel to Iraq.

He noted that these figures do not include the Arbaeen pilgrimage and its spiritual journey, which, with the recorded participation of more than 7 million pilgrims, is considered a movement extending beyond the concept of economic tourism alone.

Salehi Amiri also announced the preparation of a comprehensive tourism package, saying that Iran has defined 10 major tourism routes, one of the most prominent of which was the “Sasanian Historical Corridor.”

He described the corridor as a civilizational route beginning in Firouzabad in Iran’s Fars Province, passing through Kermanshah and linking up with Ctesiphon, Taq Kasra and Babylon in Iraq.

The Iranian minister stressed the need to move beyond a single-product approach to tourism, saying that new destinations such as ancient Babylon should be added to pilgrimage packages.

In the field of maritime tourism, he added, a route linking Khuzestan to Basra is also planned.