Page 49 - IRANRptSep21

9.1.5 Tourism sector news
Iran, Russia agree visa-free group tourism using accredited companies
Hotel closure rate in Iran has hit 30% amid pandemic says federation
A deal between Russia and Iran that cancels visa requirements for tourist groups travelling under credited company arrangements has been signed by head of the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism Zarina Doguzova and Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ali Asghar Mounesan.
The agreement means one tourist group will be able to travel on just one visa. The signing in Moscow was announced by Iran’s Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali. "At the meeting, an action plan was signed on fulfilling an agreement between the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian government on visa-free trips for the two countries’ citizens," Jalali wrote on his Facebook page.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last October that visa waivers for Iranian tourist groups would take effect in the near future.
Some 30% of hotels in Iran have shut down since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the country in February, the Federation of Hotel Owners has said.
A collapse in bookings and lack of support provided to hotel owners to stay solvent saw many hotels either forced to close or mothball operations, it added.
“The industry has suffered Iranian rial 85tn ($304mn at the free market rate) in losses because of the pandemic and the radical decline in domestic and international travel,” federation representative Jamshid Hamzehzadeh was quoted as saying.
Some 70% of jobs have been lost in Iran’s hotel industry in the past year, with local tourism essentially non-existent on a short-term perspective, he added. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, 240,000 people were directly employed and 550,000 were indirectly employed in the Iranian tourism industry, industry estimates suggest.
9.1.6 TMT sector news
Iranian Netflix clone launched by MCI
Netbox, a startup Iranian video-on-demand service, has been launched by Mobile Communications of Iran (MCI), Digiato has reported.
The platform was created by graduates of Sharif University of Technology, sometimes referred to as the "MIT" of Iran. The graduates received funding from MCI as part of an initial round of venture capital investment.
MCI’s investment arm announced in March that it would invest Iranian rial (IRR) 750bn ($2.77mn at the free market rate, $17.8mn at the official exchange rate) in two startups.
Mohammad Mehdi Abbaskhani, CEO of the investment arm, said that more than 200 business plans from companies in fintech, tourism, media, health and education were reviewed by his staff this year alone.
Netbox has entered a market with stiff competition. However, foreign streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime are blocked in Iran.
One streaming platform already in operation on the domestic market is Filimo. It said in March that it was expanding its reach to other countries with Persian speakers, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.
MCI, despite being the largest and oldest established mobile provider in Iran, has struggled to keep up with its main rival, MTN-Irancell, co-owned by South Africa’s MTN, which has invested huge sums in recent years into tech and e-commerce.
49 IRAN Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com