Iran’s travel surge set to continue, forecasts analyst ForwardKeys

IRAN. International visitor arrivals to Iran leapt by +18.3% year-on-year in 2016, and look set to continue growing in 2017. That’s according to a new study from travel intelligence analyst ForwardKeys.

Iran is proving to be an increasingly – and consistently – popular destination with air travellers, noted the analyst. Inbound arrivals climbed by +2.7% in 2013, +24.8% in 2014 and +12.7% in 2015.

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The pattern is reflected by a consistent year-on-year increase in total scheduled seats: in 2014 growth hit +10.5%, in 2015 it reached +18.3% and 2016 it was +17.3%.

ForwardKeys, which monitors future travel patterns by analysing flight reservation transactions each day, found that international arrivals grew each month throughout 2016, with the exception of June because of the timing of Ramadan.

The main source regions for air travel to Iran are North America, Europe and the Middle East. Together, they made up 83.7% of international arrivals during 2016. Germany, with a 14.3% market share, posted growth of +8.3%, followed by the USA (10.7% share) up +9.3%. Bahrain, Canada and the UK, all with significant market shares, also showed healthy growth in visitors to Iran.

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Among the 12 top origin countries, only China and Pakistan are outside these main regions. ForwardKeys’ data also shows that 40% of Chinese visitors to Iran last year were on business trips.

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Looking ahead, forward bookings (bookings already made for future travel) for the first half of 2017 are ahead +14.8%, based on figures issued at the beginning of January, suggesting the upward surge of international visitors to Iran is still growing in momentum.

Arrivals in Iran during 2017 will be boosted by increased air connectivity including:

*Alitalia and Iran Air tripling their scheduled seats from Italy since November last year.

*One more daily flight from Amsterdam to Tehran by KLM since October 2016.

*An increasing number of Belgian travellers using Amsterdam to transfer to Iran and Swiss travellers routing via Vienna, from where Austrian Airlines is doubling its scheduled seats during the first half of 2017.

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ForwardKeys CEO Olivier Jager said: “Our findings support the conclusion that political change in Iran is making the country more approachable – an attractive place to visit and potentially do business. The image of Iran around the world is changing. Its many tourist attractions, historic, religious and spectacular, are once again being emphasised. I expect visitor numbers to increase, so long as Iran’s airport capacity can keep pace.”

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