A comment on a recent post caught my attention:
“It’s such a great advantage to promote a brand that is already liked by many in the world. The opposite scenario could be devastating.” – Rahman Mehraby, Destination Iran
Curious, I contacted the author and asked him about the challenges of marketing Iran as a tourist destination.
“The problem is two-fold,” he told me, “as you have to convince people first that it’s safe to travel to Iran and then introduce its attractions. The main challenge is to tell the world we are not anti-westerners and we like to see them traveling in Iran. Iranians are very hospitable people, but explaining this to people who only follow traditional media isn’t easy. Some big news corporations have political motives and give a somewhat dreadful image of Iran and Iranians.”
Our correspondence happened to coincide with a survey of global travelers and opinion leaders presented last week by Marriott International at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in which respondents indicated that international travel is even more important for breaking down cultural barriers than the Internet, TV and movies and political diplomacy.
Said Mark Penn of Penn Schoen Berland, which conducted the survey on behalf of Marriott, “International travelers advance people’s understanding of different cultures and reinforce all that we as humans have in common with each other.”
Mehraby promotes tourism to Iran through his website, Destination Iran, as well as blogging, search engine marketing, article marketing and press releases. He also administers a Facebook page, Twitter feed and LinkedIn profile. Official destination marketing is managed by the Iranian Tourist Board, the Iran Tourism Industry Association and the Cultural Heritage News Agency.
“Iranians must be one of the most active users of social media in the world,” he tells me. “Almost every friend I have is on Facebook. Twitter and YouTube are less popular, and LinkedIn is not so well-known.”
The Washington Post reports that Iran is one of the most densely Web-connected nations in the Middle East and has one of the largest Facebook communities.
Mehraby says most Iranians still use brick-and-mortar travel agencies for travel planning. “We’re under sanctions and do not have international credit cards to buy online.” Social networks are primarily used for socializing, though lately he’s noticed coffee shops, travel companies and restaurants that have started Facebook pages.
“Recently, I went to Daad Hotel in Yazd and saw a banner in the lobby on which it was proudly mentioned, ‘The best hotel of Iran according to TripAdvisor’”, he tells me. “TripAdvisor is a source of reference for a large number of foreign travelers”, so “having good reviews is becoming important for hotel managers and owners.”
Travel fairs and expos are popular means of promoting tourism to Iran, he says, but costs can be prohibitive. Word of mouth is more effective. “With the growing popularity of social media people have found ordinary citizens everywhere in the world who explain the real stories of their day-to-day lives and social developments without any biases,” says Mehraby.
I asked my friend Suzanne Walters, who is afraid to jay-walk but travels to exotic lands by herself, about her recent trip to Iran. “Iran is not an easy destination and you must be prepared to work within the restrictions and the cultural expectations,” she told me. “But it is full of warm and lovely people who seek you out to welcome you and share their country. There are astonishing heritage sites that are delightfully uncrowded and untouched, unlike so many other parts of the world that have been ‘discovered’.”
However, she says, “Every single Western news site I tried to access are blocked within Iran. So I was pretty much cut off from the world while I was there.”
Iran reportedly blocks, conducts surveillance on and censors some activities on the Internet, mobile networks and social platforms, according to a study of internet censorship in China and Iran conducted by the University of Toronto.
I asked Mehraby about this, but he was more interested in promoting his country. “Iran is among the top cultural destinations and top nature destinations in the world,” he says. “If you’re looking for the roots of Islamic architecture, explore Iran. If you’re looking for fabulous handicrafts and crafts, visit Iran and see the real Persian carpets in the land of its inventors. If you would like to visit a country that is not overflowing with tourists yet, it’s Iran.”
However, he says, “Keep in mind that hotels of 3 to 5 stars are acceptable accommodations, but don’t expect the same 5-star standards you see elsewhere in the world.”
For more information about traveling to Iran check out Mehraby’s Iran Travel Advice page.
G'day Daniel (and Rahman),
A very interesting article and relevant to what we do. My name is Shannon Skerritt, managing director for Kurdistan Adventures, an adventure travel company based in Sulymaniya, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. We face many of the same challenges convincing people that Kurdistan (Iraq) is safe for intrepid travellers.
We are also very active on social networks including Facebook, Twitter and our blog to get this message across. Slowly but surely it is and we invite readers and all travellers to be amongst the first to discover this safe, fascinating and hidden part of the world.
Best of luck to you Rahman in your endeavours as well. If there are any ways we can support each other, we should explore this.
Cheers,
Shannon.
Thanks for your comments, Shannon – it’s great to hear your perspective. Social media creates connections and helps take some of the guesswork out of planning trips, however near or far. Best of success with promoting Kurdistan and building your travel business!
Dear Daniel,
Thanks for your note.
I am Siamak, student of University of Waterloo and exactly my current project is about how to market the brand of Yazd across the world.
As you pointed out, safety is probably the most important factor for many western tourists and since large media are promoting middle east and specifically Iran as a dangerous and insecure place, its really hard to change the mind of people. As Rahman said, first we need to try change the mind of people about the real Iran and introduce the attractions to them. However, there are many shows such as John Stewart daily show that have provided reports in the lens of a western visitor that Iran and Iranian are totally different from how western people and specially american imagine that we can act on them in social media more.
Moreover, I do not deny the massive internet censorship in Iran. However, it's exaggerating to say that you "cut off from the worldwide while you are in Iran". Still, there are many popular global news website accessible in Iran, while some are not. Moreover, as you stated that Iranian are welcoming people, they can help you use anti filter softwares to have access to any website you are looking for.
Finally, I think one of the main challenge for tourism marketing in Iran is that we miss our connection with tourist after they leave our country. If we try to keep in touch with them, have their testimonials and motivate them to re-visit Iran or to encourage their family and friends to have a visit or at least transfer what they have experienced in Iran to their network, then we can find a new channel to change the attitude of people toward Iran and Iranian.
Sorry for being long.
Best,
Siamak
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Siamak – so interesting. Social networking is making it increasingly difficult for inward-focused countries like Iran and China to control the flow of information, but that should have many positive benefits – including better understanding across cultures and more tourism. Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.
I went to Iran only a few months ago and indeed it's not the country that most people would probably tend to associate it with. Yes, there were very astonishing sights and few foreign tourists as well.
As mentioned in your article, the people are incredibly hospitable -generally, they were probably the most hospitable people I have encountered.
I think the main problem is not just about safety, or at least the perception of such. And it also goes way beyond just introducing the attractions. More often than not, it's also about capturing the public's imagination, travel-wise — it can be a single site, one activity or a cultural experience…it can even be just a marketing slogan as long as it's catchy – which people can associate the country with. In India, it's the Taj Mahal that people automatically think of and in New Zealand it would be the breathtaking scenery and extreme outdoor activities. There are even a few countries which are actually quite unsafe (I won't name them here), but because they have this element that captures the public's imagination, they are high up there in many people's list of places to visit. Even if a country were to be perceived as safe, without that one overarching element that binds the rest, I think it would be much harder to promote in the tourism space.
Interesting perspective, Christopher – thanks for sharing. I agree that having iconic attractions can do a lot to draw visitors to a country. From what I understand Iran has its share of heritage attractions, but they are not as widely known as those of other countries. Hopefully Rahman and people like you who have visited the country can help spread the word.
hello mr.craig;
i am an iranian girl and i live in yazd-iran
first i wanted to thank you for writing this article,hopefully this would show people that iran is not as horrible as some say it is and it’s actually a great place to visit espesially my city!
i have an offer to make,there is this website “couchsurfing”that people can make an account there and make international friends;better yet they can invite each other to their countries and visit other places.i think it would be a really good way to encourage people to come and visit iran
Thanks for writing, Bahar. Staying in the home of a local is indeed a great way to experience a new culture. All the best, DC.
Hi Daniel,
I run an agency, called Not Just a Tourist that offers custom-made and nature-orientated programs & trips in a few countries across the world. Apart form Spain, where we are based we also cover some not very well known regions or even countries with a horrible reputation such as Iran & Iraq! I could not agree more with you & Rahamn on what you have stated in this article. In the past 2 years & due to the tension created because of the Iranian nuclear program our tours to Iran have been affected seriously. No matter how hard we as private initiatives try to promote Iran & its undeniable tourist attractions as long there is no governmental & long-term planning there would not be much success. Still I think that our role as region specific travel experts is to contribute with our little efforts to improve the country image by offering innovative ways & approaches to the travelers. In our case & as we work both with incoming as well as outgoing groups we have started to introduce new concepts to our programs; things such as having a local friend with the same interests as yours in your destination currently only in Spain) or exploring other itineraries off the beaten track rather than the usual ones (read the Isfahan, Persepolis, shiraz tour),or even by offering accessible travels for travelers with a disability. Having said that I shall admit that promotion of tourism in Iran or Iraq (here I should say also hello to Shannon) is still one of our biggest challenges.
Best,
Mahsa