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All Is Not Lost For Iraqi Tourism


 

 

 http://www.travelindustryreview.com/news/6637   By Kadum Wailli  Bombings, conflicts and deaths are not the only ones making headlines out of war-torn Iraq. It turns out that efforts are being made to revive the country’s once flourishing tourism industry.

European and Arabs companies have submitted proposals to build an airport on the road between Najaf and Karbala, which are the holy cities located south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Recent reports indicate that nine Arab and foreign companies made offers to compete for the building of an airport worth of US$3 billion between the two most important holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, 100 kilometers south of Baghdad.

"Nine companies from Kuwait, Italy, France, Turkey and Belgium made offers through Iraqi companies according to the investment law for the establishment of the new international airport in Karbala, costing US$3 billion,” said the chairman of the Reconstruction Committee in the city, Mr. Falah Al-Hasnanwi. "All offers will be studied by Iraqi experts, and it is expected to proceed next year."

Al-Hasnanwi added: "The airport will be implemented on an area of 220 acres .Tests were conducted in the region and received OK according to the international specifications.”

The construction is scheduled to take about three years to complete.

Kerbala and Najaf cities are holy cities that bring ten of thousands of pilgrims from Iran , Europe and Gulf area each year.

In another development, the official spokesman of Najaf governorate announced the signing of understanding memoranda between Najaf governorate and the US-based commercial manufacturer Boeing.

"During the visit of the delegation of the American Boeing Company to Najaf International Airport last Thursday, and meeting with the governor of Najaf, Ashraf gAsaad, and chairman of the committee implementing the Airport of Imam Ali, Abdul Hussein Abtan, there were discussions about ways of providing technical and informational by Boeing,” Ahmed Abdul Hussein Deibel said. “In addition to exchanging experiences and holding training courses for the working cadres in this area and the possibility of making a partnership contract to operate the airport, when is achieved, and provide it with airplanes."

He added, "Boeing promised to make frequent visits and sign understanding memoranda between the two sides."

The Boeing delegation visited the site of Imam Ali Airport and briefed on the work carried out at the airport of internal roads, the helicopters airstrip, aircraft parking plaza and the rest of the work executed.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Hotels said on Tuesday it would develop a $55 million five-star property in Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdish region, which has largely been spared the violence affecting the rest of the country.

Rotana, which has 25 hotels across the Middle East, will compete for a growing hospitality business with the Erbil International Hotel; the city's only other five-star property, where a standard twin room costs around $300 a night.

"This is part of our strategic aim to have a property located in every key city in the Middle East," Rotana president Selim el-Zyr said in a statement.

The semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government is trying to encourage investors to develop Erbil's hotel infrastructure and turn the city into an entry point to Iraq for foreign businesses.

The Ministry of Tourism last month said three or four times the current numbers of hotels were needed.

The city's international airport handled about 170,000 passengers in 2006 and the regional government is building a new airport to handle 1.5 million, according to the London-based Kurdistan Development Corporation.

Austrian Airlines became the first European carrier to resume scheduled flights to Iraq last year when it began twice-weekly services to Erbil from Vienna.

Rotana's 205 room Erbil property, scheduled to open in 2009, is owned by Lebanese holding company Malia although potential investors are “still welcome,” according to president Jacques Sarraf.


Back to main page
All Is Not Lost For Iraqi Tourism
All Is Not Lost For Iraqi Tourism

Efforts are being made to revive Iraq's once flourishing tourism industry. (01/11/2007)
Five-Star Luxury For Northern Iraq
Five-Star Luxury For Northern Iraq

Rotana Hotels said it will develop a $55 million five-star property in Arbil. (18/10/2007)
Baghdad Soup Kitchen Feeds Sunnis Shias
Baghdad Soup Kitchen Feeds Sunnis Shias

In a city riven with sectarian bloodshed, workers at a 13th century Baghdad mosque mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by feeding the poor and preserving a bygone spirit of co-existence. The Sunn (27/09/2007)
Alexander's Gulf Outpost Uncovered
Alexander's Gulf Outpost Uncovered

Beneath the sun-baked sands of Failaka Island unearthed the secrets of an earlier conquest. (23/08/2007)
Kurds Promote Tourism In Northern Iraq
Kurds Promote Tourism In Northern Iraq

The Kurdish Ministry of Tourism has 417 employees and big plans. (15/08/2007)
Kurdistan's Archaeological Sites
Kurdistan's Archaeological Sites

A healthy plethora of archaeological sites is the pride of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. (26/07/2007)
Iraqi Antiquities Department To Renovate Nahum’s Tomb
Iraqi Antiquities Department To Renovate Nahum’s Tomb

The department has put off the renovation mainly because it lacked the right expertise. (19/07/2007)
Samarra Named World Heritage Site
Samarra Named World Heritage Site

The historic buildings in the shrine city are threatened by bombings. (12/07/2007)
Iraq And UNESCO To Rebuild Samarran Shrine
Iraq And UNESCO To Rebuild Samarran Shrine

The agreement was signed in the Iraqi Embassy in Amman. (28/06/2007)
Destruction Of An Ancient City
Destruction Of An Ancient City

Two Iraqi artists portray the destruction of Baghdad and the devastation of their homeland. (31/05/2007)
Direct Flights Between Arbil And Antalya
Direct Flights Between Arbil And Antalya

Turkey's Affan Air expects to bring 20,000 Iraqis to Turkey this year. (03/05/2007)
Iraqi Singer Wins Arab Pop Idol
Iraqi Singer Wins Arab Pop Idol

An Iraqi singer has paid tribute to her country after winning a popular pan-Arab TV talent show. (05/04/2007)
Thousands Mark Ashura in Iraq
Thousands Mark Ashura in Iraq

Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims have observed the holiest mourning rituals of Ashura. (01/02/2007)

Showing 13 news articles
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Bab Al-Mudham
P.O. Box 489, Baghdad - Iraq
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Iraq

The news that published in Islamic Tourism Trade Media

Publisher's View
by A S Shakiry

Islamic Tourism Prospects (Issue 7)

River Tourism:
Can Iraq benefit from Europe's experience? (Issue 8)

How to build bridges of communication between Islamic nations in the 21st century? (Issue 18)

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The articles which appeared in Islamic Tourism magazine

QATAR AIRWAYS TO EXTEND FOOTPRINT IN IRAQ

  Issue 72

Babylon

  Issue 64

Yousif Naser: Unique Iraqi Art In An Old Town Hall

  Issue 59

The Arab Marshland in Iraq

  Issue 49

Iraq as a tourist destination

  Issue 48

Future tourism plans in Iraq

  Issue 48

The importance of tourism

  Issue 47

The historical and geographical significance of Iraq

  Issue 46

Kurdish Museum

  Issue 45

Celebration of Eid Al-Ghader in Najaf
An annual carnival of joy
  Issue 38

The Mosque and tomb of Imam Abu Hanifa
Islamic monument in the capital of Al-Rashid
  Issue 37

Uruk
The birth place of the alphabet and home to the first tourist
  Issue 36

Tourism in Iraq
A time for optimism
  Issue 36

Nuffar
the city that was created in the sky
  Issue 35

Najaf
A City Blessed By The Tombs Of The Prophets
  Issue 34

The road to Halfiah
A trip to the marshes of Amarah
  Issue 33

Shrine of Prophet Jobe
Do the Iraqis have the patience of Jobe?
  Issue 32

The most famous city of antiquity
A glance at the vestiges of Babylon
  Issue 31

Irbil
Kurdistan's Most Beautiful City
  Issue 30

With Abraham, the father of the prophets
Where holiness meets miracles
  Issue 29

The shrine of Zul Kifl
and the vanishing minaret
  Issue 28

Forty Days (Arba’in) In Kerbala
Six Million People In A Small City!
  Issue 27

Baghdad
The cradle of tourism imagination
  Issue 27

Archaeological Sites In The Desert Of Karbala

  Issue 26

Kurdistan
A neglected tourist treasure
  Issue 25

Al Ukhaider
The amazing palace and fortress
  Issue 25

The mosque of the Grandson of the Prophet in cairo
A visit to the mausoleum of Imam Al Hussein Ibn Ali
  Issue 25

Kufa
The islamic city and school
  Issue 24

Kadhimiya
City Of Domes And Gilded Minarets
  Issue 23

Ashoura in Kerbala
Annual Season Of Sadness
  Issue 22

Advert
Tigris air advert
  Issue 22

Advert
Tigris air
  Issue 21

Iraq's First minister
of tourism talks to Islamic Tourism
  Issue 20

First international
Trade Show in the north of Iraq
  Issue 20

El-Madain
Tourism in the heart of history
  Issue 20

Iraq
Continuing state of war threatens cradle of civilizations
  Issue 19

Iraqi Kurdistan
The newest frontier in cultural tourism
  Issue 19

Al-Moustansiriya
The oldest Arab-Islamic university
  Issue 19

Iraq's Marshlands
Eden Again
  Issue 18

The Qadirya Mausoleum
Shrine of a famous sufi leader
  Issue 17

Al-Moutanabbi Street
A unique cultural phenomenon
  Issue 16

Ain Al-Tamr
Mineral waters, palm groves and holy places in the ...
  Issue 15

Najaf
The city of knowledge and peace for believers
  Issue 14

Ramadan in Baghdad
The harmony of holiness and tradition
  Issue 14

British School
of Archaeology in Iraq
  Issue 13

Baratha
from monastery to mosque
  Issue 13

The Iraqi Museum
Preserving mankind's ancient heritage
  Issue 12

Outreach 2004 -
promoting Iraq's reconstruction
  Issue 10

Kerbala:
The land of Hussein the Revolutionary Martyr
  Issue 10

Iraq
First post war tour of Iraq
  Issue 9

Tourism in Iraq
Will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of wars
  Issue 8

Iraq
The Cradle of Civilization and Land of Prophethood
  Issue 7




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