ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An American travel company in Erbil has published the Kurdistan region’s first comprehensive travel guide, despite a war against die-hard Islamic militants rages only 60km away.
With over 600 photos, a map, and in-depth articles covering Kurdish culture and history, the book draws the reader in with the professional patina of a top-grade travel guide.
“When I told my friends in America we were going to publish the book, they thought I was a little bit strange,” he said.
According to Layton, however, there is no better time to market Kurdistan as an adventure tourism destination.
“ISIS has done a lot of public relations for us already: all we have to do is turn a negative into a positive,” he said.
Spinning war coverage into promotional press isn't new to Layton. With partner Harry Schute, a retired colonel from the US Army Reserve, he launched Kurdistan Iraq Tours in 2008, developing a flourishing travel business in a country better known for the two Gulf Wars and the subsequent sectarian violence.
Layton rebranded Kurdistan as the “other Iraq” 10 years ago in a bid to distinguish the semi-autonomous, mush safer region from the rest of the war-ravaged country.
He developed advertisements that ran on CNN, Fox News, and in the Wall Street Journal, in which Kurds repeatedly thanked America for the war effort.
“One day no one had even heard of a Kurd, and the next day every 15 minutes you had an ad saying ‘Thank you, America,’” Layton said.
“No one ever says ‘Thank you, America.’ It was so strange it became news—even Saturday Night Live did a spoof, where they had American’s going to Kurdistan.”
Still, the war against the Islamic State has taken its toll on the tourism industry since Mosul fell last June and Kurdistan Iraq Tours has suffered along with other companies.
A car bombing near the US Consulate in April came as particularly menacing news to the company’s core clientele in the United States and Europe.
“We’ve had to try and make our clients feel safe to come here,” said co-owner Schute, who also serves as a senior advisor to the Ministry of Interior.
“But in all candor, like the rest of the business community in Kurdistan, we all felt a big bump this last year Iraq has experienced problems. So we took the opportunity to use the lull in activity focus on the writing of the book.”
On Wednesday, Erbil Governor Nawzad Hadi admitted this was a new sector for the Kurdistan Regional Government. He said the book was a “great way to introduce Kurdistan to the world.”
Nonetheless, the book received no financial support from the regional government. The two largest sponsors were a local telecom company and an oil and gas firm.
Although the regional government is currently experiencing a budget crisis and has little cash to spare on tourism, Layton believes that the government has had the wrong approach in the past by trying to appeal to Arab tourists.
“Historically, Arabs don’t come here and spend a lot of money—there’s not a lot here for them. They’re not interested in the history, and that’s what Kurdistan abounds in,” Layton told Rudaw.
Layton pointed out that any investment in Arab tourism won’t pay dividends for some time yet because the Islamic State has virtually severed the Kurdish north from the Arab south.
He suggests placing a greater focus on the American, European, and Australasian markets, which he sees as the future of tourism in the region.
Kurdistan Iraq can use the network of its vast adventure trade association—consisting of over 700 other companies—to find clients willing for the next new hot spot.
“They’ve all been to Mongolia. They’ve sailed down the Amazon. They’ve done the Nile. They’ve been to Turkey a dozen times. Israel is old hat. They’re looking for something fresh, and we have it to offer,” Layton said.
Even so, some public relations blunders have occurred along the way.
He said in the past inferior quality, rife with misspellings and other clumsy mistakes, had done little to instill confidence in the industry or win over the foreign media.
The new guide will soon be sold throughout Kurdistan and will go on Amazon.com in June. Schute hopes this will show the world the region “looks more like Colorado with its mountains and streams” than a barren desert.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to victims of war, and part will go to the restoration of sites that have suffered from neglect, vandalism, and lack of security—other unfortunate realities hampering tourism in Kurdistan.
