Tourism hot spots ruined by trash in Kurdistan Region

KHALIFAN, Kurdistan Region - Tourists flock to the Kurdistan Region’s nature for joyous affairs, but often heaps of litter are left behind tarnishing its picturesque nature.

Among these areas is a tourist resort in Khalifan in Erbil province. The owner says despite giving out plastic bags for the trash, the people still litter the waters.

“They [tourists] throw the garbages inside the river and I with my team, tell the tourists to put the garbage inside the plastic bags that we give them. So later we can throw it. But they throw everything in the water,” resort owner Daro Hassan told Rudaw’s Baxtiyar Qadir on Saturday.

Tourists flock to the Kurdistan Region’s nature for joyous affairs, but often heaps of litte is left behind tarnishing its picturesque nature.

Tourism in the Kurdistan Region began booming again after it was hit by coronavirus-related measures in 2020.

Over three million tourists visited the Kurdistan Region in the first half of 2022.