Iraq: Iraq Tourism Profile

 

In September 2009, more Middle Eastern and international airlines began flying into Iraq. Bahrain Air is now offering two weekly flights direct from Bahrain to Baghdad International Airport and five flights direct to Najaf International Airport.

 

Baghdad Airlines and Gulf Airways are also scheduling flights to Baghdad, Erbil and Najaf. Furthermore, BMI has expressed interest in launching routes directly into Baghdad and is waiting for both the British and the Iraqi governments to give it permission to fly into the country. Furthermore, Nordic Leisure, a Swedish-based company, is also set to begin flights into Iraq, starting with one flight per week carrying 150 passengers, mostly made up of Iraqi nationals.

 

New airport Erbil International Airport has recently been expanded and has a modern passenger terminal able to handle up to three million passengers per year, whilst Najaf International Airport is expected to welcome between 1,500 and 3,000 visitors a day throughout 2010; this will bring a significant boost to the travel and tourism industry, with an increase in the number of religious travellers in particular.

 

Number of pilgrims continues to increase

 

In Iraq, approximately 5,000 religious travellers cross the border every day, with most travelling by land, either for the day or to spend a few days on a religious pilgrimage in Iraq. The majority of travellers are from Iran, with approximately 500,000 visitors per year, and other countries such as the Lebanon, Gulf countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. Iraq has become a destination for religious dissenters from Shia communities around the world. This has led the country to figure as a serious player in the travel and tourism industry within the Middle East, despite the ongoing war and continued reconstruction, as the country is home to a variety of religious sites, which include Sunni, Shia, Christian and Jewish landmarks. There is potential to boost Iraq’s religious tourism further, but the supporting infrastructure is very much lacking and the country will need to get back on its feet, although some places such as Najaf are being developed by the National Investment Council (NIC), with Najaf set to become a boom town in future. These current and future developments will boost the economy and the travel and tourism industry in Iraq, especially in religious regions such as Najaf and Karbala.

 

Growth in travel accommodation

 

Iraq has a limited choice of accommodation and, with the increase in the number of visitors, the building of more hotels in religious cities like Najaf and Karbala, as well as in other regions, has been set as a priority. Investments in the hotel industry have already started and are developing gradually, with companies seeing considerable profits to be made from pilgrimage travel. Rotana Hotels, for example, based in Abu Dhabi, has recognised the development potential in Iraq as the country becomes more stable and secure. In the past two years, Rotana has signed an agreement to manage two 205-room, 5-star hotels in Erbil, Kurdistan, which have already attracted US$55 million in investment, with the area considered safer than other regions in Iraq. It has also opened a hotel in Baghdad’s international green zone, the location of the official government of Iraq. Kuwait is also interested in investing in the hotels industry: for example, Safir has signed an agreement to build a hotel in Karbala, which is due to open in 2010. Safir also has plans to manage a 500-room hotel in Najaf.

 

Kurdistan emerges as a new destination

 

Kurdistan continues to emerge as an attractive destination for foreign investment and tourism; with its own Ministry of Tourism, the region is one of the largest in Iraq. The number of Iraqi tourists has increased following the easing of travel restrictions implemented in 2004 and it is now open to tourists within Iraq and across the Middle East as well as to a smaller numbers of US and Australian visitors.

The number of tourists visiting Kurdistan is expected to continue to rise, especially following the completion of Erbil International Airport in 2010, as more international airlines are expected to travel directly to and from Kurdistan, which will attract more tourists and travellers worldwide.