Almost one year has passed since ratification of the bill to merge the cultural heritage and the tourism organizations. The time now has come for masterminds of the plan to set aside any political and factional predispositions and assess the one-year performance of the newly-born entity: the Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization. There is also need to identify the future challenges of the tourism sector and come up with effective plans to tackle them.
The plan to merge the two establishments initially proved one of the most controversial bills forwarded by the reformist sixth parliament. It was followed by intense debate by both supporters and opponents.
The bill was finally passed and the new organization became one of the subdivisions of the presidential office.
A quick review of macro planning in the past two decades indicates that numerous factors have stunted the development process of the country’s cultural heritage and tourism sectors. Despite possessing exceptional potentials and being income-intensive, the role of both sectors, intentionally or unintentionally, continues to be undermined and sidelined from major development schemes.
Studies reveal that the first and second five-year development plans almost totally ignored these sectors.
Many say the eight-year Iraqi imposed war and government’s excessive focus on reconstruction of the badly-damaged economy was the man reason for prolonged negligence of tourism.

Cultural and historical advantages of the country were not exploited enough, leaving them out from almost all macro economic plans.

Belated
Lack of attention under the first two plans undermined the status of these vital sectors at administrative, managerial, economic and social levels. The cultural and historical advantages of the country were not exploited enough, leaving them out from almost all macro economic plans, according to the ICHTO official web site CHN.
As such, efforts to protect the cultural heritage were confined to measures such as physical preservation of cultural and historical monuments to prevent their total destruction and registering them under the list of national heritage.
A prolonged isolation of the cultural and tourism sectors in the first and second development plans made these vital areas a lifeless and frail concept in the overall planning system. Some notice was given to them in the third plan, raising hopes that officials had finally come to realize the culture and tourism are two indispensable parts of the overall economic progress.
This is while cultural planners unanimously agreed that the belated attention and emphasis could not make up for what had been lost so far.
A simple look at the 54-year history of development planning in this country indicates serious shortcomings in the way and manner policies have been implemented. This is evidenced in the fact that the countless number of macro and micro plans contributed the least in engendering development for the country other than sending to waste billions of dollars of oil revenue.
In the past and at some instance in history we have witnessed that the government has indeed managed to take giant steps towards development without such total reliance on oil. All history books admit that during the Safavid era, development achievements were on a far greater scale and in scope even without the oil revenues.
What factors other than unhelpful policies, poor executive capabilities and lack of attention to economic sectors that have invaluable comparative advantage could be behind the present-day misfortunes?
Ardeshir Orouji, director general of the ICHTO’s Statistics, Planning and Information Office says this is a serious question that needs an urgent answer by concerned officials.
“My belief is that the development model has not been chosen properly and in accordance with the country’s potentials and needs.“
The truth of the matter is that all historical and cultural characteristics of the country, which should be considered as unique advantages and development oriented have been wrongly considered as impediments. “The government has to get rid of such an attitude and implement an “outward development model.“
Orouji says after decades of planning experience, officials should have realized by now that inward policies and keeping the culture and tourism factor out of the process of development have cost the country dearly. “How much longer can we afford to neglect our own culture and history?“ he wonders.
The launch of the third development plan was a starting point, although a lot needs to be done to give these vibrant and vital sectors a momentum.

Main Pillar
From the government viewpoint and within the fourth five-year economic development plan as well as the 20-year Perspective, the culture and tourism sectors are one of the main pillars of the process of economic growth.
The third plan stipulated a 30-percent growth for the sectors. Whether that has been achieved or not remains to be answered by relevant officials.
The government is having an eye on a double-digit growth following the recent merger and what it claims to be revitalization of the tourism market.
According to state projections, the tourism industry will have an average annual growth of 18 percent, attracting 20 million tourists and fetching $25 billion.
There is hope that by utilizing new opportunities and making sufficient allocations as well as adequate planning, the government will be able to get rid of barriers in the way of expanding the cultural and tourism sectors. However, the government should be cautious and not let parallel and uncoordinated actions create new impediments.

Numerous factors have stunted the development process of the countryÕs cultural heritage and tourism sectors.

Objectives
The Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization had applied for nearly 8,000 billion rials in funds to realize the objectives set in the third plan, most important of all, the mentioned 30-percent growth rate.
Badly-damaged infrastructures, poor condition of museums and historical sites, shortage of investments especially for research and the urgency needed for creation of regional museums are among reasons for such a big request.
Sector planners and policy-makers believe through sufficient funding and building up of infrastructures as well as by exploiting income potentials, the tourism and culture sector could fetch billions of dollars and also play a definite role in relieving the country of its reliance on oil.
Amidst all this, parliament’s help and understanding of the importance of what the government intends to do will guarantee the sectors’ success.
The attitude seen so far, however, has revealed otherwise.
For example, despite an urgent need for a substantial increase in the budget, the Parliament Cultural Commission has disapproved funds for three subdivisions of the organization (ICHTO) apparently based on the same old assumption that the sectors do not deserve the money and that the funds should go to areas that have proved to have the least role in economic progress.
The funds are needed, for example, for setting up a special unit for safeguarding cultural heritage as well as for establishing the research center for cultural heritage and tourism studies.
The money would also go for advertisement and marketing of Iran’s tourism and cultural attractions and potentials at the global level. This is an integrated part of tourism development plans worldwide.
Therefore, a request for a fund raise was rightful and in proportion with an increase in the scope and scale of activities of the newly-established body.
All efforts to convince lawmakers of how important and necessary the money is have been futile. Lawmakers say the money will go to other organizations such as the IRIB.
Experiences of past years show that lack of skilled staff to safeguard cultural and historical sites have brought many of them on the verge of destruction and allowed for smuggling of some of the most precious heritage of this country as was evidenced when illegal excavations in the 6,000-year-old Jiroft and Halil-Roud region led to smuggling of thousands of antique items that were later found in international auctions.
At present, nearly 200,000 ancient hills in the country have been identified out of which only 500 are listed as national heritage. There has also been limited excavation due to limited finances and shortage of skilled manpower.
Can a cultural and tourism crisis be looming?

Learning from Others
The Indian government says its tourism industry is expected to fare well in 2005.
While a total of 3.36 million foreign tourists traveled to India in the last calendar year, domestic air traffic grew by 24.7 percent and international traffic saw a growth of 18 percent during the same period.
The airports also underwent a massive modernization and restructuring program.
Tourism has become the world’s largest export industry, generating huge employment opportunities, particularly in the remote and backward areas. It is estimated that tourism accounts for 13 per cent of the total world exports and 8.2 per cent of the global employment.
Both Mumbai and Delhi airports are undergoing a major restructuring program. In addition, two new green field airports with private sector participation are proposed at Bangalore and Hyderabad. In these, private partners will hold a 74 percent stake, while state governments and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) will together hold the balance 26 percent.
The state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have selected private sector partners for the two southern airports.
On the other hand, the growth of the tourism industry has significant linkages with several other sectors like agriculture, horticulture, poultry, handicrafts and construction.
According to the Indian ministry of tourism, the industry registered a growth of 17.3 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals in 2003-04 compared with 1 percent growth in 2002-03.

Excessive production and use of low quality raw material are responsible for IranÕs declining position in the global carpet industry.

Although Iranian carpets remain the top hand-made carpets in the world, they have lost their share in the global market.
Currently, export of hand-made carpets fetches only $500 million for the country annually.
Despite the myriads of announcements by various institutions that non-oil exports have picked up significantly, certain items that constitute the core of non-oil exports, such as carpet, saffron and pistachios, are still grappling with the same old problems.
Meanwhile, the carpet industry has for some time now been in the doldrums due to the fact that various bodies vie to handle its affairs. Why should the Agricultural Jihad Ministry, Ministry of Industries and Mines, Ministry of Commerce and institutions such as Imam Khomeini Relief Committee all want to interfere in carpet-related issues? This is exactly why the industry is facing chaos.
Besides this, our rivals on the international scene are offering carpets with Iranian patterns and designs, at cheaper rates. In fact, countries like China, India and Pakistan, which are Iran’s main rivals on the global carpet scene, have been able to produce high quality and inexpensive carpets and thus pose a challenge to our status in the international carpet arena.
Experts believe that one major reason behind Iranian hand-made carpets losing their appeal in the global carpet market is the decline in their quality. It can be said that excessive production and use of low quality raw material are responsible for Iran’s declining position in the global carpet industry.
In a bid to help the carpet industry boom once again, the government appears to be determined to reduce the number of bodies in charge of this vital sector. It would be prudent if the government assigned the carpet industry to one single entity.
The fact that Iranian hand-made carpets do not sell well in the global and domestic markets has made the economic conditions of weavers, who are among the vulnerable social strata of the country, more miserable.
Available facts and figures suggest that every year about 60 million square meters of carpet worth over $500 million are exported. The main buyers of Iranian hand-made carpets are Europe, the US and the Persian Gulf littoral states.
Experts believe that the only way to overcome the existing problems is to seek more investments in this lucrative industry and also to revamp its management system. It is crucial that carpet industrialists purchase higher quality raw material so that hand-made carpet sales on the international markets improve.
Let us hope that Iran once again regains the status it deserves in the global carpet industry. This can become a reality if high quality raw material is used, due attention is paid to the problems of weavers and efficient marketing schemes and promotional plans are evolved.
It should be emphasized that the backbone of the country’s non-oil exports is the carpet industry and everything possible should be done to ensure the growth of this important sector.