Iran to Pay Incentives to Attract Tourists (ROFL $20 for Americans

[wakeme2008]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-US-Tourism.html

November 1, 2006
Iran to Pay Incentives to Attract Tourists
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 4:11 a.m. ET

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran will offer cash incentives to travel agencies to encourage Western tourists to visit the country, giving a premium for Americans, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The Islamic republic's political leadership has been trying to reach out to ordinary Americans to show that a standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions is with the Bush administration -- not U.S. citizens.

The latest initiative comes as the United Nations Security Council deliberates a draft resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for its disputed nuclear program.

''Iran's tourism department will pay $20 per person to those who attract European or American tourists to the country,'' the agency on Tuesday quoted Mohammed Sharif Malakzadeh, deputy head of the department, as saying.

..little more at link...

I think I will stick with cruising thank you very much.......

[Kiouni]

1. i would love to be a fly

on the wall at that sales pitch.. would you like to got the white sand beaches of Florida the black sand beaches of Jamaica or the plutonium enrichment plant of Iran? ooooohhhhh....

[TheWatcher]

4. This is precisely the kind of ignorant, crass statement that is the core

Why the world hates us so much. It sounds like a statement by a person who knows knowledge of the country is born out of what the fear-mongers on Cable News have told you.

Can you even find it on a map?

It disgusts me how so many of my countrymen are so utterly incurious about other people and their cultures.

Believe it or not, the rest of the people on the planet outside this little fascist nation are legitimate human beings too.

And a lot of them aren't even white and have never seen American Idol! Stunning but true!

[Kiouni]

5. a botched joke

glad you could run away with it.

[keopeli]

2. I'd love to visit Iran! I love travel and learning about other places and people.

I don't hold our current lot against the Iranians. I'm sure there are many different kinds of people that live there (just like we do here) and I doubt most of them truly hate Americans. I don't think I feel safe enough today to go there, but I hope someday it can happen. I'd bet most of them would feel the same way about visiting the States, if it was a possibility. I'm sorry we live in a world so full of fear and hatred.


Mt. Ararat from Azarbaijan, Iran.


Imam Square in Esfahan


Persepolis - 2500 years old; that's 493 BC!


Baku! They have the best food! Mmmmm!

Peace.

[wakeme2008]

3. I agree before Bush

Iraq had a lot of beautiful things to see and a lot of history. I am sure Iran could be an interesting place to visit just not with Bush in the WH...

[harun]

6. A number of great photo's of places in Iran

http://www.dejkam.com/iran/

[leQ]

10. i too would love to visit iran.... when i was in college, my roomates were from

masjid-i-soulimon in the southern half of the country. they were my best friends throughout college, always a pleasure to be around.

[Nihil]

7. Heh ... how long before the headline changes?

"Iran to pay $20 per head bounty on European & American Tourists!"

:evilgrin:

[rolleitreks]

8. While waiting for things to simmer down

you can feed Persian wanderlust by reading Robert Byron's *Road to Oxiana*.

[SoCalDem]

9. Sheesh.. Sam's Town in Vegas gives us a free room, free food

and a $100 gift certificate to stay there.. C'mon Iran.. you'll have to do better or we are not coming :)

[ECH1969]

11. Come to Nucleo Land

Iran Opens Nuclear Sites to Foreign Tourists

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered authorities to open the doors of Iran's nuclear facilities to foreign tourists in order to prove that the country's disputed nuclear program has been peaceful, state-run television reported on Wednesday.

"After an order by the president... foreign tourists can visit Iran's nuclear facilities," the head of Iran's tourism division, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, was quoted as saying.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,217700,00.html