[custom_adv] Kish is a 91.5-square-kilometre (35.3 sq mi) resort island in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast. It is part of the Bandar Lengeh County in Hormozgān Province. [custom_adv] Owing to its free trade zone status, the island is touted as a consumer's paradise, with numerous malls, shopping centres, tourist attractions, and resort hotels. It has an estimated population of 26,000 residents and about 1 million visitors annually. [custom_adv] Kish Island is the third most-visited vacation destination in Southwest Asia, after Dubai and Sharm el-Sheikh. Tourists from many—but not all—foreign nations wishing to enter Kish Free Zone from legal ports are not required to obtain any visa prior to travel. [custom_adv] For those travelers, upon-arrival travel permits are stamped valid for 14 days by Kish officials. Kish Island has been mentioned in history variously as Kamtina, Arakia, Arakata, and Ghiss. [custom_adv] Kish Island's strategic geographic location served as a way-station and link for the ancient Assyrian and Elamite civilizations when their primitive sailboats navigated from Susa through the Karun River into the Persian Gulf along the southern coastline, passing Kish, Qeshm, and Hormoz islands. [custom_adv] When these civilizations vanished, Kish Island's advantageous position was lost and for a period it was subjected to turmoil and the tyranny of local potentates and other vendors. With the establishment of the Achaemenid dynasty, the Persian Gulf was profoundly affected.
