Kish Island

Kish – Beautiful Island & Tourist Attraction

Kish Island, a beautiful island and a tourist attraction is located towards the north east of the Persian Gulf around 17 km from the southern offshore of the mainland Iran. The island is frequently called the Pearl of the Persian Gulf and has an area of 90 square km.The tiny island of Kish off the southern coast of Iran bears a resemblance to a building site. It is said that five thousand people tend to work in the night for the completion of Padide Legend City which will be housing a shopping centre, five star hotels, amusement park and the largest anchor of the world.

The castle shaped 11,000 square metre restaurant had been completed in only 110 days. A local contractor had commented that they could rival Dubai. Kish is also known for its beautiful resort in the Middle East as well as the Persian Gulf. The island tends to have relaxed laws when compared to the rest of Iran and the people of Kish are hospitable and friendly. Entry visa is not essential for Kish and foreign nations do not need entry visa at the authorised arrival and departure point in Kish Island.

Participated First time in Arabian Travel Market

At Kish International Airport, officials tend to take your photograph together with your fingerprints and stamp the passport enabling one to stay up to 14 days on the island. If the traveller happens to be a western, they may be asked about the reason of their visit and one should ensure to carry all the verification papers inclusive of the hotel reservations together with the phone numbers, etc. On arrival at Kish Airport, the female passengers are instantly escorted to a room and are requested to wear headscarves with appropriate clothing.

These clothing are made available at the Airport and the passengers are expected to return them when they leave Kish. The staffs seem to be polite but tend to speak little English so it is best to learn some of the Persian phrases. For the first time in eight years, this year the authorities of the island had participated in the Arabian Travel Market, which is a trade fair in Dubai and have been forceful for more publicity. An advisor to the Kish authorities, Ahmed Tabrizi, claims that investors are coming knocking after a week talking to investors from Japan and China.

Country’s Free Zone

Kish had been a playground for Iran’s Shah, with its spotless beaches and later on had been designated as one of the country’s free zones in 1989. Though visitors can enter without visa with no taxes charged by the authorities, this has failed to entice tourist and businessmen. Presently only 20% of the companies in the free trade zone in Kishtend to involve foreign partners and the visiting foreigners seem to be mainly migrant workers form the United Arab Emirates – UAE. They tend to make the half-hour plane hop to renew their visa and are not big payers, staying generally in cheap hotels.

The best hope for Kish in increasing visitors could be tourist on their way to mainland Iran. The government has started introducing visas on arrival for some nationalities. The Americans and Brits needing visas in advance could use Kish in obtaining one in two days. Mr Tabrizi adds that `Kish is going to be the gateway to Iran’.