Marriott International became the first US hotel group to announce its interest in Iranian tourism market which is witnessing an influx of global hospitality companies in search of opportunities.

Reported by HPMM Group according to IRAN-DAILY ; Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director of Marriott’s Middle East and Africa division,  said the hotel group is ‘very keen’ to enter Iran describing it as a ‘substantial market’ in terms of demand for hotels, Press TV reported.

“Depending on what happens in the future and what agreements are reached between the United States and Iran, if the doors open legally to do business in Iran, we would be very keen to pursue that opportunity,” he said.

The announcement, however, put Marriot among a long list of global companies looking to overtake their rivals for a foothold in Iran.

International leisure groups are heartened by the incentives offered by Iran which includes 100 percent tax holidays to hoteliers.

The government has made tourism a top priority for rebuilding Iran’s economy and hopes to attract 20 million visitors a year by 2025.

In 2014, despite the sanctions, Iran earned about $6.5 billion from visits by 4.8 million tourists.

Tourism accounted for 7.6 percent of Iran’s GDP in 2015 and the figure is expected to rise to about nine percent in 2016, according to Minister for Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi.

Once the seat of great empires, the country sits on the crossroads of a great civilization retaining a lasting allure to visitors in diverse cultural, religious, medical, eco-tourism and adventure segments.

With the removal of sanctions, business tourism is also gaining momentum among international companies which are wooing the country for major stakes.

Beside its rich reserves of oil, gas and metals, Iran has a promising consumer sector with a well-educated population of 80 million.

The French group AccorHotels became the first international hotel group to enter the Iran market since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, opening an Ibis hotel and a Novotel branch near Tehran’s international airport in September 2015.

Abu Dhabi-based-Rotana Hotel Management Corp, Spain’s Melia Hotels International and Germany’s Steigenberger Hotel Group have also entered Iran’s market.

Rotana plans to open two hotels in Tehran in 2018 and two others in Mashhad in 2017.

Melia is planning to open a 319-room hotel in 2017 on the Caspian Sea.

Iran plans to build 300 new hotels over the next five years. According to Akhoundi, projects are underway to build some 170 four- and five-star hotels.

Foreign companies are specially seeking to tap Iran’s huge religious tourism market in Mashhad and Qom which attract about 25 million pilgrims a year which is more than those visiting Mecca in Saudi Arabia.