TEHRAN, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The outbreak of novel coronavirus and subsequent restrictions on travels in Iran have inflicted losses in the country's tourism businesses.
Since February, the outbreak has led to the closure of 2,200 eco-lodges across the country, Financial Tribune daily reported on Sunday.
The preliminary impact of the halt in business has resulted in the unemployment of at least 22,000 people without any source of income, according to the report.
"If the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare and banks fail to take a swift action, jobs created by eco-lodges will soon disappear," Vali Teymouri, deputy minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Ministry, was quoted as saying.
The Iranian government has approved a 4.68 billion U.S.-dollar package to help low-income households and struggling businesses impacted by the novel coronavirus. The loans will be given to small and medium-sized enterprises hit by the pandemic.
The interest rate will be 12 percent to be repaid within two years and only businesses that did not lay off workers during the disease crisis would be eligible for the loans.
Kaveh Mozaffari, the owner of an eco-lodge in northern Gilan Province, said that "we have literally earned nothing since Feb. 20 and had to lay off eight of our workers," the daily reported.
Mozaffari said the government's 12 percent interest rate loans will most probably go to hotels rather than eco-lodges.
"The functions of eco-lodges are different from hotels. These differences do not allow the allocation of government aid to eco-lodges. Coronavirus loans are planned to be allocated to businesses that have insurance. Eco-lodges are not covered by insurance," Teymouri also said.
Eco-lodge is a type of tourist accommodation designed to have the minimum possible impact on the surrounding environment. There are many eco-lodges across Iran to serve visitors in line with the traditions of the region, offering tourists a glimpse of the local way of life while helping the native people earn a livelihood.
Earlier, President of Iranian Hoteliers Association Jamshid Hamzezadeh said that the restrictions over COVID-19 have inflicted losses of 330 million U.S. dollars on the tourism industry in the two-month period ending on April 19.
About 240,000 people are directly and 550,000 indirectly employed in the tourism industry, Hamzezadeh said, urging the government to exempt the businesses in tourism sector, including hotels, travel agencies and accommodation centers, from paying taxes, as they were totally shut down in the two-month period over the virus concerns.
The deadly disease has inflicted losses of 187 million dollars on hotels alone, Hamzezadeh noted.
He stressed that the government bailout for tourism businesses is not enough for financial compensations of an employee's services.
"The government needs to offer loans at low interest rates like 5 percent instead of 12 percent to tourism industry and to consider a five-year period for the repayment of loans with a one-year moratorium period," he added.
Also, Amir-Pouya Rafiei-Shad, the head of Tehran Province Tour and Travel Agencies Association, noted that the government needs to offer tax exemption to tourism industry and lend some support for providing social welfare to employees of this sector.
"The financial supports of the government could help save jobs and prevent the bankruptcy of travel agencies," Rafiei-Shad was quoted as saying by Financial Tribune. Enditem
