Iraq has been off the radar as a tourist destination for years, with the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, the subsequent war and insurgency making it a no-go area.
But there are hopes that in trying to rebuild its shattered economy, the country could pave the way for tourism to a destination that is as rich in culture and history as it is in oil. While central and southern Iraq, particularly Baghdad, are unlikely to appear on the holidaymaker's map in the near future, Iraqi Kurdistan in the north is taking steps towards opening up further to leisure and business travellers.
The capital, Erbil, already serves as a gateway to the region. Foreign companies are moving in and the city's air traffic is rapidly increasing. Last month, the UAE budget carrier flydubai started a service to the city, while Germany's Lufthansa resumed flights in April after a 20-year break. In June, the Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways started flying there. To increase development in the region, the Kurdistan investment board was established in 2006 with the aim of attracting investment from abroad and the tourism sector was named as a priority.
"Tourism can be a main part of Kurdistan's economic development," says Hayder Mustafa Saaid, a director general at the Kurdistan regional government's investment board. So far 259 licences have been issued for projects across all sectors in the region, including tourism developments, with foreign investment exceeding US$3.6 billion (Dh13.22bn). Now this policy is starting to pay off. A new airport is expected to open this year in Erbil, which is likely to attract more airlines, and several hotels are being built, including a luxury block managed by the Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Hotels group.
Shopping malls are also under construction to cater for the expected influx of business as commercial activity increases. Brands including the French supermarket chain Carrefour are also planning to set up shop in the city. Banking and financial services, construction, energy and utilities are the leading growth sectors in Kurdistan. Once the business community moves in, the investment board is hoping international tourism will follow.
"Kurdistan has many natural as well as ethnic and cultural attractions," says Mr Saaid. "There are many places that people would be interested to visit." Already there is a steady flow of tourist traffic from Turkey, Iran and southern Iraq. Erbil attracted 791,000 tourists, including visitors from within Iraq, last year, the city's tourism department says. The aim is to increase that to about 1.5 million tourists a year over the next four years or so.
Dler Osmana at the Erbil tourism department highlights the Citadel as the city's major tourist attraction. "It's the oldest continuously inhabited settlement anywhere in the world," Mr Osmana says, referring to the site, which is thousands of years old. There are ambitions for the Citadel to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Erbil is working on its preservation and restoration, planning to invest $13 million in the project over the next three years.
Outside the city, there are areas of outstanding natural beauty to be found. But for now, the major growth is expected to be in business travel to Erbil. Malia Group, a Lebanese company, is developing the 201-room Rotana hotel, which is expected to open next month. "We found out that the investment is at the right time and the right place," says Thomas Touma, the general manager of the Erbil Rotana hotel.
"We studied all aspects of security issues and market development and we found that the time is very suitable to come to Erbil." Divan Hotels, a Turkish luxury hospitality company, plans to open a hotel nearby next year. "When you come in and you pioneer a market you have a competitive advantage," says Mr Touma. "We have been approached by a lot of investors wanting to bring new hotels up in other major cities in Kurdistan, including Sulaimaniya."
But he adds there is some way to go before international tourism can take off in the region. Few believe the process will be an easy one. "For tourism, it's still early," Mr Touma says. "To bring tourists to a destination is not an easy task. It's very lengthy and it requires a lot of infrastructure. The area has great potential for tourism but the infrastructure for tourism is lacking." In the short term, he expects business tourism to be the main driver.
"It's very common that business comes at the first stage in order to build up this infrastructure," says Mr Touma. "You need to bring in companies, consultants, project managers to develop this country. "This is exactly what is happening today. That's why we expect a huge increase in visitors from the business market, in order to bring this country to a level where it can attract tourism. They can't put this place on the tourism map yet."
Mr Saaid agrees that building good-quality visitor accommodation has become a priority. "There is a need for hotels, especially the international standard and the five-star ones," he says. Meanwhile, central and southern Iraq face a steeper struggle. A local tour operator in Baghdad says religious tourism is "working well" but attracting tourists to the area's historical sites is difficult, despite the country's rich archaeological heritage.
What are widely believed to be the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are located near Baghdad and one UK-based company, Hinterland Travel, has resumed tours to "Mesopotamia" (a historical term largely corresponding to Iraq) after a six-year break. These trips take in visits to ancient sites and mosques across the country. But many are still not convinced. David Butler is a British helicopter pilot who lives in Dubai. Seeking new and interesting places off the beaten track to visit, he was happy to travel to Erbil as a tourist last month.
But Mr Butler says he would not venture into Baghdad. "Definitely not at the moment," he says. "It's an extremely dangerous place for independent travellers." rbundhun@thenational.ae
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
England ODI squad
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Paderborn (11.30pm)
Saturday
Bayer Leverkusen v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
Werder Bremen v Schalke (6.30pm)
Union Berlin v Borussia Monchengladbach (6.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldof v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Cologne (9.30pm)
Sunday
Augsburg v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Mainz (9pm)
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Results
2pm Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 1,800m
Winner AF Al Baher, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh75,000 1,400m
Winner Alla Mahlak, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly.
3pm Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner Davy Lamp, Adrie de Vries, Rashed Bouresly.
3.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 1,400m
Winner Ode To Autumn, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
4pm Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 1,950m
Winner Arch Gold, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
4.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh75,000 1,800m
Winner Meqdam, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
5pm Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,800m
Winner Native Appeal, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
5.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh75,000 1,400m
Winner Amani Pico, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
The%20specs
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PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
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Series info
Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday
ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23
T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29
Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com
Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.
Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Specs%20
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
