Tourism in Iran is diverse, providing a range of activities from hiking and skiing in the Alborz and Zagros mountains, to beach holidays by the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, but the main reason that tourist visit Iran is because of Iran Cultural and Iran History and places such as Persepolis, Naghsh-e Rostam, Naghshe Jahan and other places in Iran also we have near 22 World Cultural Heritage.  The Iranian government has been making concerted efforts to attract tourists to the various destinations in the country and arrivals have increased during the past few years. Kish Island alone attracts around 1 million visitors per year, the majority of whom are Iranian but the area also attracts many non-Iranian Muslims who like to have beach holidays with Islamic style beaches where men and women use separate beaches .

Before the Iranian revolution, tourism was characterized by significant numbers of visitors traveling to Iran for its diverse attractions, the country boasts cultural splendours and a diverse and beautiful landscape suitable for a range of activities. Tourism declined dramatically during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s.

Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, the majority of foreign visitors to Iran have been religious pilgrims and business people. In Iran there are many Shi’ite Shrines, the two main ones being Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad and Fatimah al-Ma’sūmah Shrine in Qom. Each year millions of pilgrims from Iran and other Shi’ite countries visit these holy places. Official figures do not distinguish between those traveling to Iran for business and those coming for pleasure, and they also include a large number of diaspora Iranians returning to visit their families in Iran or making pilgrimages to holy Shia sites near Mashhad, Qom and else where . Domestic tourism in Iran is one of the largest in the world.The government continues to project strong rises in visitor numbers and tourism revenue for the foreseeable future, and plans to build an additional 100 hotels to expand its currently limited stock.In 2013, the number of foreign tourists in Iran reached 4.76 million, contributing more than $2 billion to the national economy. Over five million tourists visited Iran in the fiscal year of 2014-2015, ending March 21, four percent more year-on-year.In October 2018, Ali Asghar Moonesan,the head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO), announced that the number of tourists who visited Iran in the first six months of the Iranian year (started March 21, 2018) rose by 51 percent compared to the same period in 2017.

According to a report published by World Travel and Tourism Council in 2015 the size of its tourism industry – including cultural and ecotourism as major components of it – is estimated as having the potential to create jobs for 1,285,500 and rise by 4.1% pa to 1,913,000 jobs in 2025. Based on the report in the year of 2014 Travel & Tourism directly supported 413,000 jobs (1.8% of total employment). This is expected to rise by 4.4% in 2015 and rise by 4.3% pa to 656,000 jobs (2.2% of total employment) by 2025.