Page 65 - IRANRptSep22

9.1.6 Tourism sector news
Kazakhstan introduces 42-day visa-free regime for Chinese, Indian and Iranian citizens
Tehran’s mayor outlines ambitions for several 5-to-7-star hotels
The Kazakh government has announced that it has granted a visa-free regime for citizens of China, India and Iran that allows them to stay in the Central Asian nation without a visa for up to 42 days within every 180-day period.
Visa-free stays for Chinese, Indian and Iranian citizens are now permitted for tourism, business or private matters.
The visitors are not permitted to work or perform any paid activity in Kazakhstan with a visa-free entry.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani has proposed that several 5-to-7-star hotels should be built on parklands around the capital city in an attempt to secure an upgrade on ageing hotel infrastructure, local English magazine Living in Tehran reported on February 13.
Prior to the reintroduction of heavy sanctions on Iran by the US around four years ago, several big international hotel brands including Ibis and Novotel established a presence in Iran. Like other foreign investors, they pulled out of the country, fearing secondary sanctions threatened by the former Trump administration.
"We are planning to build hotels that are 5-to-7-star in several Tehran parkland locations," Zakani said, following a meeting of the city municipality. Financial backing for the project could be awarded by state authorities following the altering of a legislative clause that presently forbade the city government from entering into developments with a large footprint, he added.
After foreign brands departed Iran under US pressure, many newly constructed hotels across the country were left to operate under local brands, without any foreign oversight. This was the case with two airport hotels originally due to come under the Ibis Group. In recent months, they have been slated for staff unprofessionalism on Trip Advisor.
Iranians and expatriates from 2016-2018 invested in renovating hundreds of historic buildings to create guesthouses in cities including Tehran, Kashan and Shiraz. Such investments have been hit by poor trade in recent years, partly due to the effect Washington’s renewed hostility to Iran had on international tourism in the country and partly due to the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Many of the guesthouses were mothballed.
9.1.7 TMT sector news
Iran said to shut out social media users by blocking sent verification codes
Iranian authorities have reportedly blocked mobile phone users from receiving two-step verification codes on their devices in a move aimed at further limiting social media access and filtering access to information. Several social media users reported on August 17 that text messages containing Telegram, Twitter and WhatsApp login codes were filtered by cell phone operators in Iran and thus were not receivable, Radio Farda reported. Under the situation, if a user in Iran is logged out of one of the applications, logging back in again is impossible. There were some reports, however, that Telegram was enabling phone calls to provide access codes to users.
Tehran has been accused of covertly beginning to implement “cyberspace protection” legislation that provides control of Iran's internet gateways to the armed forces. It also criminalises usage 0f virtual private networks (VPNs) that mask internet users’ locations, giving them the security to view blocked
65 IRAN Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com