Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Investment Group

Direction

Strategy, goals and corporate values

National tourism policy documents, quantitative sector targets, SEMEGA's overarching strategy, investment policies and social responsibility.

National tourism policy framework

Cultural heritage and tourism development is embedded in Iran's 20-year vision document and in the sector's national policies:

  • Care for the country's cultural, historic and natural heritage is a shared duty; as regulator and policymaker, the state provides the legal groundwork for research, protection, revival and promotion.
  • Presenting the values embedded in Iran's cultural heritage nationally and internationally to preserve and strengthen the society's cultural identity.
  • Growing domestic tourism and securing a fair share of the global tourism market, prioritising pilgrimage, cultural and nature travellers to raise GDP and employment.
  • Prioritising tourism exchange with Islamic countries and countries within the Iranian cultural sphere.
  • Upholding travellers' rights and ensuring their safety.

Quantitative sector targets

Raising Iran's share of global tourist arrivals from 0.09% in 2004 to 1.5% by 2025 — roughly 20 million additional visitors a year — while lifting its share of global tourism revenue from 0.07% to 2%, equivalent to close to USD 25 billion a year from inbound tourism.

The Sixth Development Plan sets out detailed support for tourism activity, most notably:

  • State commitment to developing pilgrimage facilities and services in religious tourism hubs and delivering the required infrastructure projects.
  • The Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, working with other executive bodies, must identify, protect, restore and promote cultural and natural heritage, create world craft cities and revive endangered traditional arts within Iranian culture and civilisation.
  • The Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation, together with the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, must prepare and deliver rehabilitation plans for at least 300 villages with valuable historic and cultural fabric before the plan period ends.
  • The Ministry must approve a strategic tourism development document built around maximum private-sector participation, covering: subsidies, financing and tax and duty relief for tourism facilities; infrastructure for tourism regions such as roads and hospitality services; low-cost credit lines and other support measures.

SEMEGA's overarching strategy

SEMEGA organises the full tourism value chain through specialist companies: economic appraisal and planning; design, construction and development; restoration and revival; marketing, branding and visitor attraction; and management and operation (transport, accommodation, tour operation, leisure and entertainment, retail facilitation and more). The company is structured as a "small core, large network", so most projects are delivered through satellite and project companies or outsourced to specialist contractors.

Following its strategic analysis, SEMEGA has adopted offensive strategies, strengthening the necessary infrastructure while offering a complete value chain to domestic and international travellers. Its horizon is set over three, five and seven years: completing value-chain infrastructure (forward, backward and horizontal integration) in three years; readiness to deliver tourism service packages to segmented target markets (related, unrelated and horizontal diversification) in five years; and deepening the market and consolidating the brand at home and abroad (market penetration, product and market development) in seven years.

Investment policies

The many investment opportunities before SEMEGA are appraised through different channels depending on their value and scale. The principal advisory and reporting duties are:

  • Maintaining existing investment regulations and drafting those still required
  • Making investment proposals (entry and exit timing, buy/sell pricing and investment volume)
  • Setting maximum profit and loss thresholds for investments and their holding periods
  • Setting the rial turnover of company transactions over defined periods
  • Defining the composition of the company's investment income
  • Defining the optimal asset portfolio
  • Setting the minimum cash required to act on available investment opportunities
  • Meeting research and software needs in equity investment
  • Applying information technology across decision-making and execution
  • Reporting on investment performance
  • Defining risk indicators

Social responsibility

At the annual general meeting of 22 July 2023, shareholders approved IRR 15,000 million in charitable grants.

Through participation in specialist conferences the company helps raise public awareness of capital-market-led investment, and it plays a constructive role in relief efforts during earthquakes, floods, storms and fires.

  • Environmental protection
  • Occupational health of employees
  • Safety management and incident reduction
  • Scientific management and building a learning organisation
  • Strengthening employee motivation
  • Developing and safeguarding information assets
  • Respect for human dignity
  • Succession planning