Shafaq News – Al-Sulaymaniyah

Tourist arrivals in Iraq’s Kurdistan (KRI) have topped two million annually since the launch of an eight-year development plan in 2022, a senior official said on Friday.

Tourism chief Amal Jalal told Shafaq News that more residents are choosing local destinations, strengthening the use of the Iraqi dinar and supporting the Regional economy. She pointed to “dam tourism,” developed with the Agriculture Ministry, as a growing niche following rehabilitation of reservoir areas.

Seasonal festivals are also planned at mountain and snow resorts to draw both domestic and international travelers, Jalal said, adding that foreign arrivals could double within two years "if the strategy stays on track."

The Kurdistan Region, long considered Iraq’s safest destination, once attracted more than 3 million tourists annually before the rise of ISIS in 2014. Numbers fell sharply during the war and the COVID-19 pandemic but have been gradually recovering.

Read more: Discover Kurdistan: The Middle East's best-kept travel secret.