ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurds searching for respite from the scorching summer heat are flocking to Turkey, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and elsewhere, leading to a surge in the number of passports issued.
In Erbil, 21,000 passports have been issued in the last month alone. There has also been a 50 percent rise in the number of trips abroad. Tour companies say this is their busiest time of year.
“People have only this time in the summer, which is the break season, to travel. That is why the trips might increase by 50 percent,” Redar Mohammed, a tour company owner, told Rudaw.
Kurds splashing out on vacations seem to have overcome recent economic worries. The Kurdistan Region has struggled since 2014 when Baghdad cut off its share of the federal budget. This was followed by the costly war with ISIS and the October events, which halved the Region’s oil revenues.
“While we are working, we don’t feel like there is a financial problem because frankly the number of tourists increases annually. The reason why there were less trips before was because the people were anxious because of the financial problem,” Sherzad Ibrahim, another tour company operator, told Rudaw.
According to figures from Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) board of tourism, more than 50,000 people travel abroad annually.
Tourism was adversely affected by the international flight ban imposed on the Kurdistan Region by Baghdad between September 2017 and March 2018. Turkey resumed flights to and from Erbil, but has maintained its flight ban on Sulaimani. The ongoing ban has forced Sulaimani’s travellers to brave the dangerous Erbil-Koya road in order to fly from Erbil.
Turkey accuses the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the dominant party in Sulaimani, of aiding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish insurgent group fighting for greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey. Although Turkey says the decision in linked to national security, the move in reality is designed to pressure the PUK to break any ties it maintains with the PKK.
“If Sulaimani’s airport is open, then people don’t have to go through this difficulty, for them to come all the way from Sulaimani to here. In terms of expenses, you spend more. You look at it from the dangerous aspect of it, the roads aren’t good,” Nawzad Ameen, a tourist on his way to Turkey, told Rudaw.
The dangerous stretch of road, which was never built to handle the current level of traffic, has caused several fatalities.
With financial conditions improving and the Kurdistan Region economy forecast to stabilize, the number of travellers – and passport applications – will no doubt grow.
The KRG has also adopted a policy of encouraging tourism investment to attract visitors. Last week, prominent businessman and telecoms mogul Faruq Mullah Mustafah announced a $1 billion tourism investment in a massive project on Lake Dukan.
In Erbil, 21,000 passports have been issued in the last month alone. There has also been a 50 percent rise in the number of trips abroad. Tour companies say this is their busiest time of year.
“People have only this time in the summer, which is the break season, to travel. That is why the trips might increase by 50 percent,” Redar Mohammed, a tour company owner, told Rudaw.
Kurds splashing out on vacations seem to have overcome recent economic worries. The Kurdistan Region has struggled since 2014 when Baghdad cut off its share of the federal budget. This was followed by the costly war with ISIS and the October events, which halved the Region’s oil revenues.
“While we are working, we don’t feel like there is a financial problem because frankly the number of tourists increases annually. The reason why there were less trips before was because the people were anxious because of the financial problem,” Sherzad Ibrahim, another tour company operator, told Rudaw.
According to figures from Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) board of tourism, more than 50,000 people travel abroad annually.
Tourism was adversely affected by the international flight ban imposed on the Kurdistan Region by Baghdad between September 2017 and March 2018. Turkey resumed flights to and from Erbil, but has maintained its flight ban on Sulaimani. The ongoing ban has forced Sulaimani’s travellers to brave the dangerous Erbil-Koya road in order to fly from Erbil.
Turkey accuses the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the dominant party in Sulaimani, of aiding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish insurgent group fighting for greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey. Although Turkey says the decision in linked to national security, the move in reality is designed to pressure the PUK to break any ties it maintains with the PKK.
“If Sulaimani’s airport is open, then people don’t have to go through this difficulty, for them to come all the way from Sulaimani to here. In terms of expenses, you spend more. You look at it from the dangerous aspect of it, the roads aren’t good,” Nawzad Ameen, a tourist on his way to Turkey, told Rudaw.
The dangerous stretch of road, which was never built to handle the current level of traffic, has caused several fatalities.
With financial conditions improving and the Kurdistan Region economy forecast to stabilize, the number of travellers – and passport applications – will no doubt grow.
The KRG has also adopted a policy of encouraging tourism investment to attract visitors. Last week, prominent businessman and telecoms mogul Faruq Mullah Mustafah announced a $1 billion tourism investment in a massive project on Lake Dukan.
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