The World Trade Market opened on 5 November 2018 in London with 182 participating countries only a few hours after the US Treasury had published a new list of sanctions against Iran.

Eight tour operators from Iran were at the fair this year. According to Mohammad-Ali Vaghefi-Nayeb, the Deputy of Iran’s Tour Guides Association, the fair was not affected by the threat of US sanctions this year. Not only were there no negative reactions, but Iranian companies received new enquiries from British and American firms to send more tourists to Iran.

The tour operator stated: “We saw an increase in the number of visitors as compared to last year. Some of our patrons used a particular lexicon to describe Trump, indicating that they were not interested in his politics. Overall, there was a positive atmosphere at the WTM, but we must wait a little longer to get results.”

The Head of the Tour Guides Association of Iran, Ebrahim Pourfaraj, also present at the fair said the general atmosphere was very positive, adding: “We are hoping to offset the drop in our tourism industry in the next season to some extent.”