Shafaq News- Duhok

Duhok’s tourism sector has faced a “severe crisis” over the past two years, forcing most hotels and motels to close, the head of the Restaurants and Hotels Association told Shafaq News on Wednesday.

Ihsan Issa said that around 13,000 workers in the sector have lost their jobs and returned home after operations stopped. He estimated that the suspension of tourism has deprived Duhok’s market of nearly four billion Iraqi dinars (about $2.58 million) per month, adding that the situation worsened in 2026 after the outbreak of war between Iran and the United States, which led to the closure of about 95% of hotels.

On the downturn reasons, Issa explained that it is not limited to the conflict, citing the winter season and the spread of farm rentals, “which is the main factor behind the decline.”

The private sector, he pointed out, had made significant investments in tourism, with around 900 tourism licenses and nearly 140 hotels, motels, and accommodation facilities across the province. “Some establishments have turned to temporary measures, including leasing about 20 hotels to universities as student housing at low rates, a step he said would not have been necessary under normal conditions.”

The Region faced security and environmental pressures in recent months. Since late February 2026, it has come under sustained missile and drone attacks linked to the broader US-Iran-Israel conflict, with hundreds of strikes recorded across Erbil, Al-Sulaymaniyah, and Duhok, targeting security sites, energy infrastructure, and civilian areas.

Read more: 650 Strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan: How deniability became a weapon

Earlier, heavy rainfall triggered flash floods in parts of Duhok, damaging homes and roads and exposing weaknesses in drainage systems, while winter snowstorms blocked key mountainous routes, including roads leading to Mount Gara, disrupting transport and isolating communities.