Kurdistan Region Promotes Tourism at Dubai’s Arabian Travel Market
The delegation is led by the Director General of Tourism in Duhok and includes officials from the General Board of Tourism, along with several tourism companies from the Kurdistan Region, Ibrahim Abdulmajid, spokesperson for the board, told Kurdistan24 on Tuesday.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – A delegation from the Kurdistan Region’s General Board of Tourism is participating in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai, seeking to promote the Region as a tourism destination and attract Gulf tourists and foreign investment to its tourism sector.
The delegation is led by the Director General of Tourism in Duhok and includes officials from the General Board of Tourism, along with several tourism companies from the Kurdistan Region, Ibrahim Abdulmajid, spokesperson for the board, told Kurdistan24 on Tuesday.
The ATM, which opened on Monday under the auspices of the ruler of Dubai, is one of the world’s major tourism industry events. This year’s event features more than 2,600 tourism companies and organizations from 161 countries.
Abdulmajid said the Kurdistan Region’s participation is particularly important amid regional complexities, as countries seek to revive and normalize their tourism sectors.
He said the delegation has held several meetings on the sidelines of the event, particularly with representatives from Gulf countries, to showcase the Kurdistan Region’s archaeological sites, history, natural landscapes, and security and stability.
The delegation has also held talks with foreign investors in the tourism sector to encourage investment in the Kurdistan Region, according to Abdulmajid.
He added that the Region’s continued participation in international tourism exhibitions is part of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) strategy to promote the Kurdistan Region as a major tourism destination at the regional and international levels and strengthen ties with international tourism organizations.
The KRG tourism policy focuses heavily on economic diversification away from oil, massive infrastructure-first development, and aggressive private investment incentives. Managed primarily by the KRG Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism, the current strategy under the Ninth Cabinet aims to transform the Kurdistan Region into a premier Middle Eastern travel hub, targeting a long-term goal of 20 million tourists by 2030.
