SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan region’s tourism board wants to revive the once boooming local tourism from other parts of Iraq, after the declining number of holidaymakers following an ISIS offensive in mid 2014.
The spokesperson of the board, Nadir Rosti, told Rudaw that authorities in both the Kurdistan region and Iraq will take “new safety measures” to do background checks on tourists who want to visit the Kurdish areas.
“We have asked the tourist agencies to stand as surety for those who want to visit the Kurdistan region,” Rosti said, explaining that the agencies were accordingly obligated to coordinate with security institutions in the region and run background checks on future visitors.
Security checkpoints along the Kurdistan region’s borders with Iraqi territories were tightened in late 2014 after thousands of displaced Iraqis sought refuge in Kurdish controlled areas.
Authorities feared ISIS infiltrators would enter the region disguised as refugees and introduced new regulations for visitors which also applied to holidaymakers.
The new rules meant that visitors would be required to introduce a Kurdistan citizen who would officially vouch for them while vacationing in the region.
In addition, background checks by authorities and the long lines of visitors at the Kurdish checkpoints turned off many potential vacationers.
In cooperation with 16 Iraqi and five Kurdish travel agencies, the tourist board in the Kurdistan region has now reached an agreement according to which the agencies will run background checks on their own and be “accountable for any irregularity.”
“If these travel agencies are incapable of guaranteeing travel safeties, their licenses will be withdrawn,” Rosti warned.
He said that travellers came to the Kurdistan region in the past as individuals but now they can only make the trip if they come through the agencies and are part of groups.
“The travel agencies need to give detailed information about the visitors to Kurdish securities at least 72 hours before they enter and in case of any irregularity, their working license will be extracted,” Rosti said.
According to the Kurdish union of hotels and restaurants there are nearly 4,000 guesthouses, eateries and vacation sites in the Kurdistan region which primarily earn their revenues through holidaymakers who had come in their thousands in the past.
Many new hotels and holiday facilities were also built over the past few years to attract more guests from south and central Iraq who often vacationed in the Kurdish north’s cool temperatures in the summer months.
But the double shock of plummeting oil prices and the ISIS war has hit the hotel industry hard, as tourists have increasingly stayed away.
“The business is not as good as it used to be,” said Sarko Sidoq, who runs a tourist firm in Sulaimani.
“Now they only come as groups and on special occasions. Restrictions should be eliminated altogether if we want them to come,” Sidiq said.
The spokesperson of the board, Nadir Rosti, told Rudaw that authorities in both the Kurdistan region and Iraq will take “new safety measures” to do background checks on tourists who want to visit the Kurdish areas.
“We have asked the tourist agencies to stand as surety for those who want to visit the Kurdistan region,” Rosti said, explaining that the agencies were accordingly obligated to coordinate with security institutions in the region and run background checks on future visitors.
Security checkpoints along the Kurdistan region’s borders with Iraqi territories were tightened in late 2014 after thousands of displaced Iraqis sought refuge in Kurdish controlled areas.
Authorities feared ISIS infiltrators would enter the region disguised as refugees and introduced new regulations for visitors which also applied to holidaymakers.
The new rules meant that visitors would be required to introduce a Kurdistan citizen who would officially vouch for them while vacationing in the region.
In addition, background checks by authorities and the long lines of visitors at the Kurdish checkpoints turned off many potential vacationers.
In cooperation with 16 Iraqi and five Kurdish travel agencies, the tourist board in the Kurdistan region has now reached an agreement according to which the agencies will run background checks on their own and be “accountable for any irregularity.”
“If these travel agencies are incapable of guaranteeing travel safeties, their licenses will be withdrawn,” Rosti warned.
He said that travellers came to the Kurdistan region in the past as individuals but now they can only make the trip if they come through the agencies and are part of groups.
“The travel agencies need to give detailed information about the visitors to Kurdish securities at least 72 hours before they enter and in case of any irregularity, their working license will be extracted,” Rosti said.
According to the Kurdish union of hotels and restaurants there are nearly 4,000 guesthouses, eateries and vacation sites in the Kurdistan region which primarily earn their revenues through holidaymakers who had come in their thousands in the past.
Many new hotels and holiday facilities were also built over the past few years to attract more guests from south and central Iraq who often vacationed in the Kurdish north’s cool temperatures in the summer months.
But the double shock of plummeting oil prices and the ISIS war has hit the hotel industry hard, as tourists have increasingly stayed away.
“The business is not as good as it used to be,” said Sarko Sidoq, who runs a tourist firm in Sulaimani.
“Now they only come as groups and on special occasions. Restrictions should be eliminated altogether if we want them to come,” Sidiq said.
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