This chart shows the link between tourism in households' consumption basket and income level. The columns represent the share and the line chart shows the average tourism expenditure of Iranian households in 1402 (2023/24). As expected, from the lower deciles toward the higher deciles, the amount of spending rises sharply, to the point that the tenth decile's average travel expenditure is 6 times that of the first decile. Put simply, more affluent families have been able to devote a larger share of their budget to travel. On the other hand, households' share of spending on tourism indicates that although income and livelihood gaps exist, the less well-off deciles still allocate part of their income to travel. That is, although the amount spent and the quality of travel differ greatly between the lower and upper deciles of society, tourism is a kind of relative priority for all groups. These data therefore show that tourism is not merely a luxury good of the wealthy class, but one of the durable components of every household's consumption and cultural basket, and the main difference is in the level and quality of the travel experience. On this reading, the policymaker, rather than focusing on developing and providing luxury services in the tourism industry, should create opportunities for access to services for all segments of society and maintain adequate oversight of inflation in travel costs.
See the original infographic (Persian)
Machine-translated from Persian by Namafar; the Persian original is authoritative. Read the original in Persian