Tourism agencies in southern Iraq have shifted their travels from Syria to Kurdistan Region and Turkey over the past few months due to deterioration in security situations in Syria, as reported by AK News. Adil Qassim, a tourism agency owner in Basra said they had to reconsider their Syria tours due to their customers’ fear from the security situations in Syria.
“We currently have tours to Turkey and there is a kind of accepted turnout for such tours. We have also expanded our tours to Kurdistan Region as well as tours to religious sites in Iran”
Kurdistan has long been an attractive tourist destination for people from central and southern Iraq. With it cooler weather in summers, stunning natural beauty and jagged mountains, hundreds of thousands of tourists from the rest of Iraq visit the Kurdistan Region annually.
Ali Shakir, Qassim’s colleague, said the tourism and travel agencies had lost huge amounts due to the security situation in Syria because “Damascus was one of the most important tourist destinations for Iraq tourists and travelers. Factors for the popularity of Damascus included the spoken language there, social similarities and the cheap prices”
Tours to Syria cost about an average of US$600 per person, while one tour to Turkey costs about US$1,250 per person, according to tourism agencies.