(Yicai Global) Sept. 15 -- Chinese tourists can get a three-month on-arrival travel visa in Iran and the country's Vice President Ali Asghar Mounesan wishes more tourists from China would visit, he said in an exclusive interview on Sept. 13 in Sichuan province's Chengdu city.

The vice president, who is also head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, took part in the 22nd World Tourism Organization General Assembly in Chengdu in the southwest of China.

Mounesan claimed that only 70,000 Chinese tourists choose Iran as their travel destination each year, most of which are businessmen. This leaves a lot of room for leisure tourists, he added.

The cold weather in the northwest of Iran allows for ski holidays, while around the southern Persian Gulf region, where temperatures are higher, water skiing is a popular attraction.

Both Beijing and Shanghai operate direct routes to Iran, he added, but if tourists in other cities want to travel there, they need to transfer at one of the two major cities. He hopes more cities will open up direct routes in the future.