Thousands of Iraqi tourists visit Sulaimani province despite travel ban: officials
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — More than 50,000 tourists from federal Iraqi provinces entered Sulaimani province over the four days of Eid al-Adha despite a coronavirus-related travel ban, according to an official from Sulaimani's tourism directorate.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official told Rudaw that they are usually invited to checkpoints to welcome travelers, but were not told of the travelers arrival over the Eid holiday.
“We were not informed of their arrival, and would not have allowed them [in],” he told Rudaw.
Sulaimani province’s crisis cell said in a statement on July 27 that “tourists from other provinces of the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran” were prohibited from entering the province during the Eid holiday, from July 31 to August 3.
Many tourists visited Dukan resort in Sulaimani province. Rezheen Rauf, head of Dukan's tourism directorate, told Rudaw that the crowds were a good sign amid plummeting tourist rates in recent months, as a result of coronavirus restrictions.
“This number is good. We had spread instructions [to resort owners] before Eid. Health measures come before tourism. The resorts have adhered to the measures,” he said.
Some tourists told Rudaw that they entered the province without being tested for COVID-19 and spoke of easy travel into Sulaimani.
“The measures [at checkpoints] were normal and we easily passed the checkpoints without experiencing the new measures. They only checked our identity cards. We have come here because the weather is very nice,” Jabar Mohammed, a tourist from Baghdad, told Rudaw.
"We were not made aware of the great wave of tourists that came from Iraq-held provinces. However, our teams were present at most of the checkpoints and provided [health] instructions," said Hersh Said Salim, deputy head of Sulaiman's health directorate.
"The number of tourists who visited the Kurdistan Region was very large and it was impossible to test them for coronavirus," he added.
Omer Shamel, another tourist from Baghdad, said that he was surprised they were not interrogated by security forces.
“This is the first time we entered Kurdistan without being interrogated. They only welcomed us. However, previously they would ask us many questions like ‘Why have you come?’ and ‘What do you have with you?’ etc.”
Faysal Kareem, owner of a resort in Dukan, welcomed the arrival of the tourists. “Our business is good after Arabs from Kirkuk, Baghdad, and Basra were allowed to enter.”
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s interior ministry banned traffic between the Region and Iraq-held provinces for seven days on Monday. The decision will take effect from midnight on Wednesday.
KRG’s health ministry recorded 348 new cases of the virus on Monday, including 19 in Sulaimani province. This brought the total number of cases in the Region to 14,876. Of this, 9,413 have recovered and 574 have died.
Reporting by Arkan Ali