Billboards still read "Welcome to Arbil, 2014 Arab tourism Capital," but most of the visitors Iraq's Kurdistan region welcomed last year were people made homeless by a jihadist offensive. It was supposed to be tourism's takeoff year but the Islamic State (IS) group's June onslaught dashed those hopes overnight when it plunged Iraq into chaos. "I can**t even talk about a decline in numbers, it's more like everything collapsed," said Hearsh Ahmad Karem, the manager of the Kurdistan Hotels and Restaurants Association. What was a growing $1 billion (885-million-euro) sector in 2013 came to a screeching halt when IS fighters took over large parts of Iraq **rth and west of Baghdad and moved within striking distance of Arbil.
02-01-2015, 06:22 PM
Iraqi Kurdistan tourism in tatters as IS war drags on
Billboards still read "Welcome to Arbil, 2014 Arab tourism Capital," but most of the visitors Iraq's Kurdistan region welcomed last year were people made homeless by a jihadist offensive. It was supposed to be tourism's takeoff year but the Islamic State (IS) group's June onslaught dashed those hopes overnight when it plunged Iraq into chaos. "I can**t even talk about a decline in numbers, it's more like everything collapsed," said Hearsh Ahmad Karem, the manager of the Kurdistan Hotels and Restaurants Association. What was a growing $1 billion (885-million-euro) sector in 2013 came to a screeching halt when IS fighters took over large parts of Iraq **rth and west of Baghdad and moved within striking distance of Arbil.
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