Tourism is flourishing in Kurdistan
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http://www.newsday.com/ Iraqis looking for a break are finding one in the green, tranquil mountains of Kurdistan.
More than 23,000 Iraqis headed north to the autonomous Kurdistan region this summer, up from just 3,700 last year, tourism officials say. A week in a modest hotel, with bus fare, costs about $160 per person, or one-third an average monthly salary. The organized tours are made possible by improved security in recent months.
Iraq's Kurdistan, about the size of Switzerland and home to nearly 3.8 million people, is perhaps the only destination for Iraqis thirsting for a little normalcy.
Now, with large numbers of Iraqi trekking north for vacation, more and more ordinary people are getting to know each other in a peaceful setting.
The Iraqi minister and Kurdish tourism regional minister met in March and licensed 38 travel agents to arrange the Kurdistan tours, said Abdul-Zahra Talakani, spokesman for the ministry in Baghdad.
For the Kurds, it's mainly business. For the central government, it may also be politics.
"Kurdistan is part of Iraq, and we encourage Iraqis living in the south and center to visit the Kurdish region," Tourism Minister Kahtan Abbas said in an interview.
Talakani's small office, stuffed with clunky computers and files stacked against a wall, displays a lone tourism poster - showing a lush landscape in the Kurdish city of Irbil, referred to by its Kurdish name, Hawler.
"Visitors are welcomed everywhere in Kurdistan," said Mohammed Ihsan, Kurdish minister of extra-regional affairs,
The Kurdish Tourism Ministry says it hopes to double the number of visitors next year.
The influx has been good for Sulaimaniyah.
The visitors fill local restaurants, take their children to amusement parks or head out to small mountain resorts.
The Kurds and the central government also try to attract foreigners.
Several foreign airlines fly to Irbil and Sulaimaniyah, and the Kurdish government's Web site boasts that not a single foreigner has been killed or kidnapped in its territory since 2003.
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Baghdad Office / Agents
Mr. Walid Abdul-Amir Alwan
Bab Al-Mudham
P.O. Box 489, Baghdad - Iraq
Mobile: +964 790 183 1726,
E-mail: itmbaghdad@tcph.org
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