“The spring of tourism [is coming],” wrote the government-run Iran newspaper Sept. 21, reporting on a ceremony in which conservative politician Ezzatollah Zarghami was sworn in as Iran’s new minister of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts.

Zarghami told the event that following his conversations with hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran plans to lift visa restrictions to help the severely hit tourism industry. Zarghami did not specify the date upon which those regulations would be scrapped. But several Iranian media outlets reported that twice-vaccinated foreign travelers would be embraced under the updated regulations.

The announcement came as Iran’s Health Ministry is reporting progress toward curbing a stubborn fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen daily mortalities of up to 700 in recent weeks. As of Sept. 21, the figure dropped to below 400 as the government boasted about its once lethargic vaccination rollout now gathering pace and reaching half of its population of 85 million.

Since April 2020, amid the raging pandemic, Iran’s Coronavirus Taskforce under former President Hassan Rouhani introduced a strict visa regime, suspending all tourism-related entries and allowing visitors solely for medical, business and academic purposes.