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More than 750,000 tourists visited Sulaimani since 2021: official

A general view of Sulaimani (File)
AM:09:22:06/09/2021

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SULAIMANI — Spokesperson for Sulaimani Tourism Directorate Aram Shwani said on Sunday (September 5) that more than 750,000 tourists visited the governorate since the beginning of 2021, nearly 95% of whom were from central and southern Iraq.

Shwani told state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the rest were from Iran and other countries.

He said that officials have "verbal” plans to support tourism sector but they require great work and efforts.

Shwani estimated that if each tourist had spent $200, then the total revenue of tourism in the governorate would be more than $150 million for the first eight months of 2021.

He said that the financial revenues will not return to the government's public treasury directly, but go to the professionals, businesspeople and the owners of investment projects in the governorate.

On May 16, Shwani said that more than 100,000 tourists, mostly from central and southern Iraq, visited the governorate during Eid al-Fitr.

Holiday tourism is a major source of income for the Kurdistan Region, but the industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

(NRT Digital Media)