A total of 2,030,523 tourists visited Iran during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 21-June 21) to register a 41% growth compared with 1,443,551 inbound tourists during the same period of last year, the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad reported.

While the US State Department has long issued strong advisories against traveling to Iran and despite tensions between the two countries, tour operators and travel mavens such as Rick Steves maintain that Iran is a safe and hospitable destination for travelers, Americans included.

Tour operators who spoke with Skift strongly disagree with the US State Department’s warning that Iran is not a safe travel destination, maintaining that Iran has proven to be a safe and remarkably hospitable place for travelers, including Americans.

According to the 2019 Travel Risk Map, launched by global risk experts International SOS in collaboration with Control Risks, Iran is as safe as a majority of European countries when it comes to travel security.

A majority of European countries are deemed low risk, including the UK, as are Iran, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Uzbekistan. Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand are all low risk, too. / FT/