Morteza Ghorbani, chairman of Iran’s travel agencies association reported of a heavy drop in foreign travels due to the high price of foreign currency and said that the popular travel routes have seen over 50 percent drop in demand.

Previously in September, the deputy of tourism, Mohammad Khayatian, had claimed that foreign travels by Iranians have only been reduced by 11 percent.

Meanwhile, although some authorities had promised lower airfare in case of a drop in the price of foreign currency, Ghorbani has rejected this claim. He says the price of the currency is an excuse and the airlines are raising their prices under various labels including “additional tax”.

According to Ghorbani, air travel to Georgia has been reduced by 40 percent and Tehran-Istanbul has reduced by 50 percent, and not only the number of flights have been reduced, but some airlines have completely pulled out. Air Asia and Ata Airways have completely stopped their direct flights to Malaysia and Thailand.

He believes some foreign airlines predicted the high airfares and preemptively stopped their flights to Iran.