TEHRAN, Iran  – The number of foreigners visiting Iran jumped dramatically over the 12-month period ending in March, with 35 per cent more tourists compared to the same period a year earlier, Iran’s top tourism official said Saturday.

Masoud Soltanifar said on state TV that the thriving industry could help boost Iran’s economy out of recession and bring in much-needed hard currency. He said 4.5 million foreign tourists that came to the Islamic ******** over the period, bringing in some $6 billion in revenue.

He attributed the increase to the 2013 ******** of President Hassan Rouhani, who has shifted away from the bombastic style adopted under his hard-line predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rouhani, who has advocated for tourism, hopes it will boost the country’s image.

“The new government has employed a proper language in international relations, leading to growth in tourism,” Soltanifar said, adding that foreign tourists, most of whom are from neighbouring countries, spend about $1,500 each in Iran.

Looser visa policies have also helped. The government has instructed its embassies around the ***** to issue visas, especially for group tours, within less than a week, while in the past applications took over a month.

Tourism from Europe has grown 200 per cent, he said, thanks to fewer restrictions at embassies, especially in Germany.

Iran has 17 UNESCO-registered ***** heritage sites, and plans to host 20 million tourists a year by 2025, Soltanifar said, a sum that would fetch $30 billion annually.

That would require tripling the number of four- and five-star hotels, for which the government plans to offer incentives for investors to build.

“The government is ready to provide low-cost loan facilities out of the National Development Fund to investors,” Soltanifar said. “There is a strong government will to help promote tourism and good co-ordination is being developed among all sectors to make that happen,” he said.

Ebrahim Pourfaraj, a leading tour organizer, said all four- and five-star hotels at Iran’s three major tourist-destination cities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Yazd have been sold out for 2014 and are now being booked for 2015.

One factor driving the ***** is cost: Iran’s currency, the rial, has fallen sharply in value over the past years under international sanctions over Tehran’s disputed ******* program. That makes top Iranian hotels cheaper compared to those in other countries, with a room at a four-star hotel in Yazd for example costing about $100 a night.