Images captured from atop TehranÕs Milad Tower show the city blanketed by smog (l) and after the rainfall cleaned the air. (Photo by Saleh Rasouli)

Air pollution has reduced hotel occupancy rates in the capital by 20 percent, head of the Tehran Hotel Owners Union told ISNA.
Mohammad Ali Farrokhmehr said that based on released statistics, many tours were cancelled after the pollution in the metropolis was aggravated by thermos inversions.
He said the pollution can affect both domestic and foreign tourism.
The hotels’ occupancy rate has always been under the influence of political, social, cultural and economic developments, and the tourist arrivals are now being swayed by air pollution, he added.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he noted that on-the-job training would be provided to 300 active staff of the provincial hotels.
Farrokhmehr explained that the training programs of the Tehran Hotel Owners Union had been planned with the cooperation of ICHTO’s Office for Educational Planning, adding it would last three weeks.
Pointing to hotel personnel who are near retirement, he said, “They will be selected, trained and employed again as required.“

Iranians spent over 635,000 nights in the United Arab Emirates’ hotels since Jan. 2005, topping the list of foreigners visiting the Persian Gulf Arab sheikdoms, latest statistics carried by the UAE-based daily, Al Bayan said.
Dubai, UAE’s tourism hotspot, hosted one million Iranians during the same period, showing an 11.6-percent rise compared to the figures of the last year.
Tourist arrivals from Arab countries, mostly Persian Gulf littoral states, to the UAE also increased by 18 percent since the beginning of the current year in comparison to last year’s figures.
Over 1.8 million Arab nationals spent 4.5 million nights in the UAE hotels during the same period and occupied 34 percent of rooms.
Al Bayan newspaper cited statistics released by Dubai’s Tourism and Marketing Organization based on which Iranians, who stayed in excess of 635,000 nights in emirati hotels, ranked first among tourists traveling to the country, followed by Saudi Arabians who stayed more than 487,000 days, Omanis with over 200,000 days, Kuwaitis with above 168,000 days, and Bahrainis with greater than 113,000 days.

Residents in Oraman Takht mountainous village, Kurdestan province

Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has worked out a plan to turn the mountainous village of Oraman Takht in western Kurdestan province into a tourism hub.
Elaborating on the project, deputy ICHTO head told the Persian daily Iran that the worn-out rural textures would be restored in a bid to breathe fresh air into the astonishing village.
Ali Fa’legari named construction of lodging units as another scheme to lure tourists to the rugged village.
A number of houses would be prepared to accommodate travelers, the official noted.
Recent attempts by ICHTO to turn the village into a tourism site succeeded remarks by Adel Farhangi, an expert with the organization, who had stated the village enjoys unique specifications for being registered in the National Heritage List.
Although the village is located in a harsh mountainous region, it is only 65 km distant from Sarvabad city. The 3,000-strong village has also a medical center and a police station to keep security.
Inhabitants of the wonderful village have retained their age-old lifestyles. They speak Hawrami, a dialect of Kurdish language.
The tomb of Pir-e Shaliar is also situated in the village. Villagers, dervishes and Sufis get together in Oraman Takht in late January each year to celebrate the marriage of Pir-e Shaliar with the daughter of King of Bukhara based on an ancient myth. Pir-e Shaliar was a sage who used his metaphysical powers to perform miracle-like events (called Keramat). Using the same power he cured the deaf and mute Shah Bahar Khatoun, the daughter of the king, and married her afterwards.

A vast yard which is now surrounded by three streets of Daraei, Bu Ali, and Khayyam in the north of Panbeh Riseh district, had been assigned to the Russians near the end of Qajar period. In addition to the Russian Consulate, other establishments like the water tank, and ballet salons were constructed to be used by Russian engineers and employees who were involved in Qazvin’s graveled road project. One of these establishments is a small church located in the south of the complex which is known as Kantour Church.
This monument has an irregular polygonal plan. The brick facade of the gabled roof of the domes and the ornamental geometrical forms are the characteristics which distinguish this church from other monuments in the province. Passing a small veranda which is at a height of 50 cm from the ground and supported by wooden pillars with a gabled roof, the entrance arch opens into the east and leads both to the main hall and small rooms in the north and west of the hall. Each of these rooms finds a way to outside through a horseshoe window.
The implementation of vault and arch is so noticeable that it can be seen in niches, entrance doors of the rooms and the hall. Some beautiful plaster work ornaments are used inside and outside of the west facade. On both sides of the entrance door, from the outside view, some plastered designs of embossed cross set in a garland are used, so that the only part of the outer facade of church which is not bricked is differently decorated.
The external facade is totally bricked up and two courses of relief brickworks have rounded all of the horseshoe windows. On the south side, three tower-like semi-columns are elevated at the junction of the sides. Also the apophyges are decorated with relief brickworks in spiral shapes. There is also a course of relief brickwork between the columns 50 cm in width.
The campanile is a square dome constructed on the entrance vestibule with horseshoe windows on four sides which is located in the south of the church. Above the window, there is a course of relief brickwork and in front of the north and south windows of the tower, two semi-columns connected to the walls and two overhanging columns intensify the decorative view of the monument. Above this square dome, a smaller octagonal building--where the bell is beaten--is established. The cover of this tower is a turquoise dome which is provided with a long apophyge.

Four tourism rest areas will be constructed along intercity roads in South Khorasan province, head of the provincial Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department said.
Hassan Ramezani told IRNA that the projects would be funded either by private investors or public organizations such as municipalities.
According to the official, the projects, which are to be built along routes of Khezri, Qaen, Nehbandan and Sarbisheh, have won the approval of state authorities.
Parts of the construction operations have already begun, he added.
Iran Tourism Development Company has plans to inject money into provincial mineral water springs, the official added.
Ramezani said that 150 million rials had been set aside to repair roadside toilet facilities in South Khorasan.
Erection of well-equipped public conveniences in six spots would come to an end by the yearend (March 2006), the official stated.
The plan is implemented within the framework of schemes to build 200 public toilets along intercity roads with a high traffic load across the country.

A group of foreign tourists in Isfahan (Photo by Qader Aqeli)

Thailand is launching a makeover to position itself as Asia’s shopping paradise to lure foreign tourists and their wallets away from more established regional rivals Hong Kong and Singapore.
Friday’s glitzy opening of the 15-billion-baht ($366-million) Siam Paragon culminated a year of shopping center expansion in Bangkok as the kingdom entered its peak tourist season this month.
The campaign aims to promote Thailand as a country with charms of its own, pulling in tourists who are looking not only for foreign luxury brands, but also ancient temples and lush beaches.
“Thailand is always a tourist destination. But it’s never been a shopping paradise,“ Supaluck Umpujh, vice chairman of Siam Paragon Development Co. Ltd., told AFP.
“We are repositioning our country to become a regional shopping destination like Hong Kong and Singapore. I think we have a lot of advantages. Thailand is not an island. We have very beautiful tourist attractions already,“ she said.
Supaluck estimated 35 percent of Siam Paragon’s total revenue would come from tourists from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Middle East.
In Thailand, foreign tourists spend nearly 30 percent of their expenses on shopping, amounting to 5,000 to 7,000 baht per person, according to Kriengsak Tantiphipop, chief marketing officer of Siam Paragon Development.
The figure lags far behind 100,000 baht in Singapore and 150,000 baht in Hong Kong, and Kriengsak said Siam Paragon was working with the government to turn the mall into a duty-free zone to encourage tourists’ spending.
Catering to foreign tourists and affluent Thai consumers, Siam Paragon, which says it is the largest mall in Southeast Asia, features some 300 hi-fashion boutiques, including France’s Chanel and Italy’s Dolce and Gabbana.
The complex, which also includes aquarium Siam Ocean World, expects to receive more than 100,000 visitors a day, with sales projected at 10 billion baht in the first year.
Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Juthamas Siriwan said Siam Paragon would no doubt bring extra spending from tourists, who account for 6 percent of Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“It will definitely boost the economy as it encourages tourists to spend more money,“ the governor said.
But some analysts voiced skepticism as to whether Siam Paragon would be a genuine shot in the arm in a still developing economy.
“If you want to see the retail market boost the economy, you have to have more spending from people,“ said Ninat Wongsangiem, a retail researcher at Capital Nomura Securities. “Inflation is still very high and people hold their spending,“ Ninat said.

Qouchan hosts 200,000 pilgrims per year.

Plans are in sight to construct a hydrotherapic complex in Qouchan’s Old City in Khorasan Razavi province, ISNA reported.
The water therapy center, once built, is estimated to draw millions of pilgrims who intend to visit the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad and Qouchan’s Imamzadeh Sultan Ebrahim Mausoleum.
The complex is situated six kilometers off the Tehran-Mashhad- Qouchan route.
It is expected that the hydrotherapic complex would host foreign nationals traveling on Qouchan-Bajgiran (Turkmenistan) transit road.
The complex could turn into a hydrotherapic tourism zone should it be provided with welfare facilities such as parking lots, lodges, swimming pool and rest areas.
Over 30,000 tourists visit warm mineral springs in Qouchan’s Old City; while the city hosts 200,000 pilgrims per year. The cost of the project is estimated at over two million rials.

New Orleans, battered by a hurricane and then swamped by floods, is getting ready for the return of visitors, senior city officials said, Reuters reported.
The officials said tourists should reassess their doomsday notions of New Orleans, a city of almost half a million people before the storm.
“We are here to let the rest of the world know that so much of the New Orleans that visitors know and love is still here and intact,“ Sandy Shillstone, head of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, said at the opening of a media center that will promote the city.
“The French Quarter, the Garden District, Uptown--all of the places that our visitors loved--are still here,“ she told WWL radio. “The shops are spicing up, the musicians are tuning up and we are just waiting for the visitors to come back.“ Tourism was the biggest money-earner in New Orleans before the Aug. 29 hurricane, employing 75,000 people in a sector that included top-notch restaurants, world-class hotels and attractions like Audubon Zoo and the Aquarium of the Americas. A major draw for the city is Mardi Gras, the traditional two-week pre-Lenten carnival in February that features parades and partying. Next year’s celebration is set to be slightly shorter than in previous years, but it remains unclear how glitzy and how crowded it will be.
The city, founded by the French in 1718 and acquired by the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, had 38,000 hotel rooms and hosted some of the biggest conventions in America.
But residents fled with the storm, there was damage to hotels and to the cavernous convention center, which boasts an area equivalent to 53 football fields, and restaurants are reopening only slowly, both because they cannot find workers and due to the absence of big-spending conventioneers.
Many housing districts were devastated by the floods and much of the city is still without gas or electricity. Some mid-range restaurants serve food on plastic foam plates because they can’t find staff to wash the dishes.
But tourist facilities are nevertheless opening up again.