Duhok city entertains more than 10,000 tourists on New Year’s Eve

DUHOK, Kurdistan Region—The city of Duhok saw a record number of visitors in a single night on New Year’s eve with more than two dozen parties and music events to entertain the thousands of visitors that poured into the city, local officials said.

Shamal Jaafar of the Duhok Tourism Department told Rudaw that on New Year’s Eve more than 10,000 tourists and visitors came to the city from across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

He said that there were more than 20 music events happening across the city with more than 100 singers performing.

“Most of the tourists were from other parts of Iraq,” Jaafar added.

Stability and security has made the Kurdistan Region a top destination for Iraqi tourists and many Iranians, particularly around New Near and Newroz holidays.

The border service department of Duhok said that in December alone 79,000 people had crossed the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Turkey.

Jaafar added meanwhile that they expected more tourists to come from the Kurdish areas of Turkey “but due to instability there, a smaller number of visitors came here.”

“Apart from that, Duhok does not have much winter tourism,” he explained.

Live music events and concerts were held at Duhok’s major hotels and restaurants with Kurdish and Iraqi singers.

Kamaran Mari, head of Duhok’s cultural centers, told Rudaw that all New Year events this year were organized by the private sector and no official city-funded event was carried out due to the ongoing financial crisis.

Tourism officials at Korek Mountain in Erbil province have also reported an increasing number of visitors to the region drawn by early snows and the mountain scenery, surpassing summer tourism.

Erbil was selected Arab Tourism capital for 2014, connected to the outside world and Iraq through its major international airport.