ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 350,000 tourists visited the Kurdistan Region’s four provinces during the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday this year, officials confirmed to Rudaw, with around 80 percent of visitors coming from federal Iraq.
Figures released by the tourism directorates of the Region’s provinces of Erbil, Duhok, Halabja, and Sulaimani showed that more than 350,000 tourists visited the region during the Eid holiday, which was celebrated from Wednesday to Saturday.
Nariman Fazil, spokesperson for the General Directorate of Tourism in Erbil, told Rudaw that this year's Eid al-Adha holiday plan was implemented successfully, with the tourism sector recording notable growth.
“During last year's Eid al-Adha holiday, 89,000 tourists visited Erbil. This year, however, data collected from checkpoints show that more than 100,000 tourists visited the province over the four-day holiday period, the majority of them coming from central and southern Iraq,” Fazil said.
Similarly, the Kurdistan Region’s eastern provinces of Halabja and Sulaimani recorded high visitor numbers at tourist attractions during the holiday.
Kizhan Abdulla, head of media at Sulaimani’s Directorate of Tourism, said that “since Tuesday, a day before Eid, until now [Sunday], nearly 100,000 tourists have visited Sulaimani province,” adding that most visitors came from other parts of Iraq.
For his part, Hawraman Jalal, spokesperson for the Halabja Tourism Directorate, told Rudaw that “more than 100,000 tourists visited the province’s tourist sites” during the holiday.
He highlighted the directorate’s close coordination with local authorities, adding that “markets and public spaces were closely monitored to prevent violations and ensure a smooth holiday period.”
As for the Region’s northern Duhok province, Shamal Harori, spokesperson for the Duhok Tourism Directorate, told Rudaw that “more than 8,000 tourists arrived in Duhok daily, and within five days, the total number of tourists exceeded 50,000.”
“Duhok had not witnessed such a large number of tourists in previous years,” Harori said.
Notably, around 80 percent of visitors to the Kurdistan Region came from federal Iraq.
Ibrahim Abdulmajid, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s General Board of Tourism, which operates under the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Municipalities, told Rudaw that “all tourist areas were crowded with visitors.” He added that Kurdish security forces and regional government institutions “provided excellent cooperation to ensure that no undesirable incidents occurred.”
Abdulmajid noted that “a large portion of the tourists visiting the Kurdistan Region come from southern and central Iraq,” adding that residents of those areas account for between 75 and 80 percent of the region’s visitors each year.
“The percentage increases year after year,” he said.
Over the past two years, more than 400,000 tourists have visited the Kurdistan Region during the Eid holidays, the majority of them from federal Iraq.
The Kurdistan Region has more than 3,100 tourism centers and sites, with over 70,000 beds available in hotels and motels. In terms of annual growth, the region received approximately 6 million tourists in 2022 and around 7.3 million in 2023.