Tourism Slowly Returns to Iraq

Nov. 9, 2009 — -- Envision yourself standing on the edge of the first settlement known to man, or taking a stroll through an ancient city that may hold the secrets to the cradle of civilization. Interested in sharing tea or shisha with locals while discussing current events?

If any of the above sound good, your next holiday album could be filled with pictures of... Iraq.

After nearly seven years of war, Iraq is not the first country that comes to mind as a top 10 travel destination. The seemingly never-ending news of horrendous bombings has been more than enough to keep most people away.

But now, with relative calm returning in much of the country, tourism is back. At least one travel comp nay is hoping that the next time travel is a topic at the dinner table, someone you know could very well be extolling the virtues of a fascinating vacation that started in Baghdad.

Geoff Hann is the director of Hinterland Travel, an adventure travel company that is currently running the only guided tours of Iraq. He ran his first tour there in 1974, and his itineraries are full of the religious and historically significant sites that made Iraq a top tourism destination for hundreds of years.

Hann is hopeful Iraq will become a destination along the lines of other formerly war-torn countries like Croatia and Cambodia that now see steady tourism.

From the hanging gardens of Babylon to Basra, once regarded as the Venice of the East, visitors can now move around Iraq and see many sites for the first time.

But for Hann, what is equally important is how much his clients gain from meeting local Iraqis.

"They come back with a changed view. They see the reality behind the news," he said. "They write about it, they read about it, they talk to people about it. That [positive] word of mouth enhances the country."

But the country is not without its challenges in welcoming tourists back. Many of the most historically important sites have been neglected for years, and refurbishment costs are hard to meet. Religious and archaeological sites across the country were abandoned or, worse, looted from 1990 onward.

"We received the tourism sector as a destroyed sector," says Abd Al-Zahra Al-Talqani, the media director for the Iraq Tourism Ministry.