75,000 tourists visited Kurdistan Region's Erbil for New Year holiday

Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, welcomed over 75,000 tourists during the 2019 New Year's Eve celebrations, the province's Directorate of Tourism said on Wednesday.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, welcomed over 75,000 tourists during the 2019 New Year's Eve celebrations, the province's Directorate of Tourism said on Wednesday.

“Starting from Dec. 25, 2019, until the first day of 2020,” Directorate administrator Ismail Minakhan told Kurdistan 24, the thousands of tourists ”visited Erbil through the airport and checkpoints at provincial borders” to mark the occasion.

Previously, an owner of an Iraqi travel company told Kurdistan 24 that, in the fifteen days leading up to the new decade, his business had transported more than 2,000 individuals from southern and central Iraqi cities to Erbil and the rest of the Kurdistan Region for the holiday.

Minakhan also mentioned that security, stability, and nature in the Kurdistan Region are the primary reasons that many from the rest of Iraq and from neighboring countries make Erbil their holiday destination, as well as the fact that it is a haven of religious tolerance.    

Read More: Kurdistan Region's nature and snow attracts thousands of tourists for New Year's holiday

Since the ouster of the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Kurdistan Region has become known for its safety when compared with the rest of Iraq. It also has several popular tourist destinations among its rich natural landscape.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has also taken a series of measures to make procedures at its checkpoints both comprehensive and carried out in a way that facilitates travelers' plans, including permanently removing a previous entrance fee.

In the past few years, the KRG has looked to boost the agriculture and tourism sectors in Kurdistan as a means to diversify the region’s sources of revenue.

Editing by John J. Catherine