The government shot at the last possibility of cheap travel; The effect of gasoline of 5 thousand tomans on tourism

After successive denials, the government has finally approved the plan to raise the price of gasoline and will pour free gasoline into the tanks of non-standard domestic cars at a price of 5 thousand tomans from the middle of December.

With the approval of the government, free gasoline will be sold at the price of 5 thousand tomans from mid-December. The resolution that has more details and also has cut the gasoline quota for many cars.

After freeing the price of plane tickets, raising the price of the travel currency, increasing the fees for exiting the country, and establishing a 10-euro tax on foreign flight tickets, the price of gasoline was the government’s last shot at the country’s tourism situation.

After the unbridled appreciation of the dollar, foreign trips have long been removed from the basket of Iranian households that previously had the possibility of traveling to neighboring countries. During the past year, the government has established various taxes and price increases in the field of foreign travel, and it seems that the government’s decision-makers look at tourists who intend to travel abroad as a source of income. This has caused a serious recession in the foreign travel market.

On the other hand, with the plan to liberalize the price of plane tickets, the government has opened the hands of the airlines to increase the price every day and it does not even supervise this market anymore. Now, domestic flight tickets cost more than 4 million on average, and a round-trip flight from Tehran to many cities in the country costs about 10 million tomans.

In the situation where the worn-out fleet of intercity buses and trains are not able to respond to the country’s travel market, road travel by private car was the last bastion of tourists for more economical trips; A stronghold that the government has now conquered with the high price of free gasoline.

Crowded roads on weekends, holidays and Nowruz are an indication of the volume of private car use for domestic trips. The sales status of economic accommodation booking platforms also shows that cheap travel has been more popular with the general public than other types of travel over the past years. A private car is the only way to travel for many Iranian families, and now the increase in the price of gasoline will soon affect this possibility.

In the days when the Ministry of Tourism has put all its efforts on the development of domestic tourism and knows very well that Iran’s foreign tourism market has suffered irreparable damage and will not be repaired in the near future, the increase in the price of gasoline will also affect the state of the domestic tourism market.

The increase in the price of Azad gasoline will occur because in some southern and southeastern provinces of the country, even the use of parking cards is hardly possible for tourists, and gas stations have queues of several hours. Also, in some provinces, such as Kerman and Sistan and Baluchistan, it is not possible to use personal gasoline cards from other provinces at all stations, and it is not possible to get gasoline freely from these stations. A complex problem that will soon become more complex with the increase in the price of gasoline and, contrary to the promises of developing domestic travel destinations, will lead to a decrease in domestic travel.

The effect of the increase in the price of gasoline will soon be visible on the volume of domestic travel, especially during Nowruz, so that the cheapest way of travel will be out of reach for many Iranians.