The Innovative Traveler: The Future of Tourism in Iraq

One of the web magazines I work for is expanding its editorial reach and looking into building new websites for its content. We caught wind of a travel and global url domain auction going on at Sedo.com and wondered if there was anything hot up for grabs. I was surprised see several Middle Eastern sites on the list.

I discovered egyptiantravels.com, dubai.net, and siria.com all waiting with respectable bids. But I was most intrigued to see Iraq.com currently up to 8 bids at $400,000 Euros... and the reserve isn't even met yet! I wondered what this website would be once it was bought and built. I didn't envision anyone would spend $400,000 Euros to build a site that wasn't looking to target tourism and a serious cash flow. So I decided to see if there was in fact any tourism going on in Iraq and after some research, I discovered Iraq's Tourism Ministry has been organizing exhibits to lay the groundwork for future tourism. Last year an event in Baghdad's Green Zone offered a plethora of silk rugs, gems, antique pistols, daggers, and locally made arts and crafts to visitors as well as photos of holy sites and travel information.

Since the US invasion in 2003, tourism from Western countries screeched to a grinding halt. I am constantly surrounded by travel writers and editors and I've yet to hear of anyone making this travel pilgrimage. However, about 350,000 people are still making religious pilgrimages to the area each year to see holy sites including Shiite shrines of the Imam Hussein in Karbala and Imam Ali in Najaf. According to USA Today, these tourists don't care about the dangers of car bombings and shooting because they are looking for martyrdom.

Currently, Iraq isn't even attempting the pursuit of attracting luxury travelers yet, and are instead focusing on archaeological excavations and potential tourist growth. They are, however, working at resuming their European flights and transportation efforts. The Euro Monitor claims Iraq's hotel occupancy is at 70%, at least during the hajj season in Najaf and Karbala. Although these areas have been ravaged during the war, future plans to re-build include “City of Beauty”, the Azmar mountain project, and more lead by Kuwaiti investors.

Whatever the future of Iraq's tourism holds, the future of its domain is worth nearly half a million Euros, an indication that someone is betting on its return.

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