Isfahan, Iran - Sunlight spills across the turquoise and sapphire dome of the Shah Mosque in Isfahan's Naqshe Jahan Square, and in its shadow, dozens of tourists hold cameras aloft to capture the memory.
The square's name translates to "image of the world", and countless feet have crossed these grounds to marvel at the World Heritage site first-hand.
"Gardens, palaces, mansions, mosques, schools, bazaars, magnificent bridges and most of all, the splendid square of Naqshe Jahan, all are the memories that stick in the mind of any travellers who visit Isfahan," the American linguist AV Williams Jackson wrote more than a century ago, after his own trip to the central Iranian city. "The memory remains so vivid and stable that it even won't get blurred after months and years."
Today, Isfahan remains one of Iran's biggest tourist draws: An inquiry to the reservations desk at its landmark Abbasi Hotel, recently lauded as "the Middle East's most beautiful hotel", revealed that it was fully booked for the next three months.
Other hotels throughout the city are routinely filled to capacity as tourists have flocked to Isfahan in increasing numbers since the implementation of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal, according to municipal officials.
"In the past two years, I can say the number of incoming tourists has been three times more than we had before the deal. More important are the investment figures. Investment has been exceptional, several times more, since the nuclear deal," Mohammad Izadkhasti, the city's tourism deputy and an adviser to Isfahan's mayor, said from inside his bright, airy office, citing significant investments in the accommodation and recreation sectors.
"The current hotel infrastructure and accommodation capacity of the city is very low," he added. "There are currently 15,000 rooms, but statistics show we need at least 150,000."
The rise in tourism numbers in Isfahan mirrors a countrywide trend: Since the 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani and the ensuing nuclear agreement, tourism numbers have surged, increasing to 5.2 million in 2015 from 3.8 million in 2012. Revenue for tourism in 2015 exceeded $8bn in Iran, which is home to 21 World Heritage sites, including the majestic ruins of Persepolis, the Persian Garden properties and the historic bazaar complex in Tabriz.
Pejman Abdolmohammadi, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics Middle East Centre with expertise in Iran, noted that the "trust of tourists, particularly from Western countries, [has] started to increase". But that could change depending on the outcome of Iran's upcoming presidential election, as well as on the future of the nuclear deal, which US President Donald Trump has threatened to scrap.
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