The festival aims to revive traditional cookery.

National Festival of Iranian Aash (traditional pottage) and Cooking Competition was launched at Ildaghi Cultural Complex, Zanjan province, on May 15.
Head of provincial Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department said that more than 20,000 competitors from 28 provinces participated in the event, adding contestants from various regions would cook their traditional and local pottages.
According to IRNA, Yahya Rahmati stated that the festival, which will continue until May 21, aims to revive traditional cooking as well as provide visitors with an insight on Zanjan sightseeing potentials.
About 17 cooking groups from Zanjan province compete in the event, the official noted.
The competition is intended to promote delicious Iranian cuisine, Rahmati expanded, stating 300 of Iran’s best chefs have taken part in the contest.
He named other programs of the festival as folkloric music concerts and traditional dances. There are some 60 pavilions to introduce tourism draws, handicrafts and costumes of different provinces.
In another development, he mentioned that on the occasion of International Museum Day, May 18, salt men and their objects, discovered in Hamzeloo Salt Mine, will be displayed to public in Rakhtshuy-Khaneh (Laundry House) anthropology museum of Zanjan.

Shams-ul-Emareh, which is one of the first high-rise buildings of old Tehran, was built by Doostali Khan Nezamoddoleh (Moayyer-ul-Mamalek) upon the order of the Qajarid King, Nassereddin Shah. The king had been inspired in one of his visits abroad by the multi-story buildings he observed there.
Moayyer-ul-Mamalek chose a site to the east of the Arg and finished the building in 1867 AD.
The building, adorned with various decorations such as stucco, mirror work, tile and murals, is one of the most beautiful of Tehran’s historic buildings.
Moayyer-ul-Mamalek not only personally funded the construction, but also furnished and carpeted the monument with his own money before presenting it Nassereddin Shah.
It is located in the eastern section of Golestan Palace. The structure is strong and the symmetries have been formed beautifully. The building is brick-made with thick walls. In some parts, the thickness of the basement walls exceeds 600 centimeters and the thickness of the ground floor stands within the range of 510, 150 and 120 centimeters.
Shams-ul-Emareh has been the tallest royal building with three stories and two towers on the top. This building used to serve as a place for official receptions and also the private harem of Nassereddin Shah.
The palace’s halls and chambers were all reportedly equipped with premium curtains, chandeliers and frames.
It is located in Golestan Palace complex, 15th Khordad Square of Tehran.

Executive manager of Malaysia Exhibition in Iran said a tourism consortium representing travel agencies from both countries would soon be founded, ISNA reported.
Alireza Shir Mohammadi added swapping tourists, organizing common tours, undertaking joint promotion and marketing projects are the activities to be pursued by the consortium.
“Some 15 Malaysian and 25 Iranian tour and travel operators are present at the exhibition,“ he added.
He stated that seminars revolving around promotion of tourism industry were held in Kashan and Isfahan, adding a memorandum of understanding was signed between Iran and Malaysia for hotel construction and development projects in Kashan, Isfahan province.
Head of the Isfahan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, Vakil, said in Isfahan that Iran’s tourism industry is expected to obtain a 30-percent growth during the current year (to end March 2005), adding some $30 million worth of investment is needed to realize that goal.
The official insisted on Iran’s determination to forge strong ties between private sectors of both countries in tourism.
Vakil pointed to tourist draws of the historic city of Isfahan including ancient monuments, Namak Lake, deserts and mountains, Zayandehroud River and natural resources, adding all these features enable the city to meet a wide range of tastes.
Meanwhile, Rajabali Khosro Abadi, head of Iran-Malaysia Friendship Association, told IRNA on the sidelines of the exhibition that Iran could be a second destination for Malaysian tourists who headed for Middle East and European countries.
“A great number of Malaysians travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj rituals every day. By investing in the necessary infrastructure, we can boost our foreign exchange revenues by receiving Malaysian pilgrims who stop over in Iran,“ he said, noting Malaysia can as well be a secondary destination for Iranians who want to travel to Southeast Asia.
Pointing to shortage of hotels in Iranian tourist cities, Khosro Abadi said more investment is required in the sector.
Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization can benefit from the experiences of Malaysia in promotion, marketing, hotel construction and rendering quality services to tourists.

Ministers who hold membership of the High Cultural Heritage and Tourism Council approved the executive bylaw on the formation and management of model tourist zones, ILNA reported.
As per the bylaw, model zones will be created at four international, national, provincial and local levels depending on their capacities to deliver services to domestic and foreign tourists.
Every region will have to possess services, recreational, cultural and artistic facilities. The investors will be notified of quality standards for the services as defined by the relevant ministries.
The National Lands and Housing Organization, municipalities, the Forests, Rangelands and Watershed Organization and other concerned ministries and state bodies are obliged to cede the required state lands to investors within two months after the approval of proposals.
Based on the ratification, the investor is authorized to divide the land and hand every parcel over to real or legal entities for implementation of various projects.

A foreign tourist getting snapshots of a Tehran street (Photo by Oshin D. Zakarian)

A view of Karoun III Dam in Izeh, Khuzestan province

Tourism is becoming a more specialized industry, with experts categorizing tourists into scores of groups.
As testified by available facts and figures, dams around the world have exerted a pull on a large number of visitors. Possessing several large-scale dams inaugurated in recent years, Iran can as well make plans to use the potential.
Karoun III, the nation’s largest dam and hydropower plant, is situated in Khuzestan province--a region which boasts unique historical sites.
Izeh governor, Rikhtehgar-Zadeh admitted that Karoun III Dam had a positive effect on local tourism industry.
“Following the inauguration of the dam, many investors have proposed to construct villas and tourist helmets across the region. We are presently negotiating with them,“ he said.
Masjed Soleiman Dam drew 4,000 travelers during Norouz holidays.
The dam comprises five sluice gates which are considered among the highest in the world.
With the approach of the warm season and the start of birds’ reproduction, migratory birds choose the highest spots on the sluice gates of Masjed Soleiman Dam for nesting and laying eggs. Flying in large flocks over the lake, the birds create breathtaking views.
The figures indicate that over 25,000 people visited Karkheh Dam in the first five days of the year(started March 21) and were updated on mechanisms for hydroelectric generation and the use of the dam’s water for agricultural and household purposes.
Close to 21,000 of the visitors were from other provinces and about 4,000 were locals.
Stating that Karkheh Dam with its large lake is considered as one of the attractions of the province, he said, “Thanks to its beautiful scenery and being a refuge for migratory birds, the 7-billion-cubic-meter dam stretched across 162 square kilometers, has the capacity to draw many domestic and non-Iranian tourists, especially from Persian Gulf littoral states.“

Managing director of Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) unveiled plans to cede tourism facilities to applicants in the current year (started March 21).
Norouz Kahzadi insisted that EDBI pays special attention to tourism-related projects.
He referred to Lahijan cable car project in Gilan and the second phase of Namakabroud cable car project in Mazandaran as ongoing schemes funded by EDBI facilities, which would go into operation by the yearend.
Kahzadi then insisted that accommodation and transport facilities need to be reinforced to promote tourism.
He announced EDBI’s willingness to help investments in construction of hotels, cable cars, tourist roads and complexes, purchase of airplanes, and creation of ski pistes and sporting facilities.

About 28 years after the liberation of the south of Vietnam and national reunification, five intact sets of remains of fallen combatants were uncovered in the town of Quang Tri, once an important citadel-city, of Quang Tri province. Two letters were also found along with the five sets of remains, www.vnagency.com.vn reported.
In a letter of May 15, 1972, the wife of a fallen combatant asked him why he had not informed her about his health for a long time. Without any information about the husband, the widow and her only son had waited for him for 28 years until drainage workers found five sets of remains in an underground hideout.
This is only one among thousands of stories touching visitors to historical sites and former revolutionary bases in central Quang Tri province, the scene of the heaviest bombardment during the war.
Wishing to provide visitors with a chance to think of the fierce moments of the war in Quang Tri, the local hospitality sector is introducing a service called “Reminiscence Tourism.“
A seminar on “Reminiscence Tourism“ will be held in the province in July, with a view to evaluating the potential of this kind of service and then orientating investment and development in the future.
Cao Van Tan, Deputy Director of the provincial Trade & Tourism Service, said “Reminiscence Tourism“ is believed to attract a large number of visitors.
Tan went on to say that going on this tour, young generations born in peacetime, whose knowledge of the American War comes only from books, will have an opportunity to see with their own eyes buildings and objects left from the war and listen to touching stories of comradeship and affections between soldiers and their relatives at home.
As one of the sites planned for the reminiscence tour, the Vinh Moc tunnel, a typical example of the Vinh Linh tunnel system, where a fierce 81-day battle between Vietnamese soldiers and US aggressors took place, is attracting a large number of international tourists, particularly from the US.
Quang Tri was chosen by the Vietnam Administration of Tourism to be one of the country’s 20 major destinations. The land accommodates 398 historical and revolutionary sites.
However, Tan said that Quang Tri’s tourism is facing many difficulties, that there are no three-star hotels in the province, that there is only a small number of hotels in the province and that many tourist sites are still under development.
Quang Tri is upgrading the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail into a highway and has completed the construction of the Cua Tung-Vinh Moc road, Tan said.
In addition, it will build a 16-billion-VND (Vietnam dong) cultural and tourist site in Gio Linh district and an 80-billion-VND Con Co island tourist site between 2006-2010.
Last year, Quang Tri welcomed nearly 177,000 tourists, 36,000 more than in 2003. It is expected to receive 50,000 foreign visitors and 150,000 domestic travelers this year.

The travel firm Thomas Cook will offer “sun and surgery“ package deals to India for patients tired of waiting for operations in Britain’s National Health System (NHS), AFP quoted a newspaper as reporting.
Thomas Cook hopes, within the next few months, to be offering deals that include flights, operations, accommodation in a private hospital and even recuperation time on the beach, the Daily Mail reported.
The newspaper said the firm is using Britain to test the market.
Standards in many Indian private hospitals are often higher than in many British NHS facilities, it said. Costs are much lower than in private hospitals in Britain, it added.
Many Britons complain they must wait long periods for surgery in the NHS system.
“What we want to offer are healthcare holidays where people can go and have their operations in hospitals recommended to them in our brochures,“ said Ameeta Munshi, Thomas Cook’s spokesman in India.
“This is going to be affordable and for anyone who is in pain and can’t be treated on the NHS, the fact that healthcare is so much cheaper here anyway means the whole deal is going to be very attractive,“ she was quoted as saying.
“Our lawyers and insurance experts are looking over the final details but we would expect to launch the deals within the next two to three months,“ she said.
Cheaper medical costs lured up to 150,000 international visitors to India last year, with around 400 from Britain, or a rise of 15 percent in British patients in one year, the newspaper said.