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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Some 75,000 tourists, mostly from Iraq’s central and southern provinces, have visited Sulaimani province for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, according to the provincial head of tourism, despite an official ban on tourism from these areas.
Ali Rauf, the head of Sulaimani’s tourism directorate, told Rudaw on Saturday that some 60,000 tourists from federal-held provinces entered the province a few days before Eid al-Fitr, with 15,000 others arriving during the first two days of Eid.
“Most of the hotels have been fully-booked,” he said. According to the official, there are some 300 hotels and motels in Sulaimani, able to host 40,000 tourists.
On May 7, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s interior ministry banned tourists from Iraq’s central and southern provinces from entering the Region to curb the spread of COVID-19. Tourists have been denied entry into Erbil and Duhok.
“Public places and resorts should not be congested,” the ministry said in a statement on new COVID-19 measures.
“The ban on tourists from central and southern provinces of Iraq has led to an 80 percent decrease in tourists,” said Barzan Mohammed, the head of Soran’s tourism directorate.
Amal Jalal, the head of Kurdistan Region’s tourism board, told Rudaw that no tourist has entered the Region from Iraq’s central and southern provinces under the new measures, adding that some entered before the ban.
“I haven’t observed many tourists passing Sulaimani’s checkpoints. It is only local people,” she said, denying the figures about the number of tourists visiting Sulaimani. She also denied that most of the hotels and motels in Sulaimani have been fully-booked.
Nadir Rustayi, spokesperson for the tourism board, told Rudaw that people from central and southern Iraq should be allowed in “with health measures.”
The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism announced in February that its tourism income decreased by 75 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year.
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