After the “big achievement”. Iraqi efforts to cover a third of the general budget of tourism imports
Shafaq News / In a “great achievement” for Iraq, the Arab Tourism Organization chose Baghdad as the capital of Arab tourism for 2025, and while the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities confirms that its goal is for tourism to have a large resource of at least a third of Iraq’s budget, specialists provided a set of tips to make optimal use of this occasion.
The Undersecretary of the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Fadel Al-Badrani, says that “the choice of Baghdad as the capital of Arab tourism for 2025 came as a result of passing the criteria set by the Arab Tourism Organization, after the Minister of Culture Ahmed Fak Al-Badrani submitted since December 2022 a request to the Council of Arab Tourism Ministers in Cairo that 2025 be the year of Arab tourism in Baghdad.”
Al-Badrani confirms to Shafaq News Agency that “Iraq worked on the standards set by the Arab Tourism Organization, which include infrastructures and tourism management, and related to the diversity of activities, tourism patterns, tourism safety, security stability and existing tourist and archaeological sites.”
He points out that “the Arab Tourism Organization conducted surveys and considered that Iraq has all the conditions for being Baghdad as the capital of tourism, and thus it represents Iraq, which has many archaeological and heritage sites, for example, in the archaeological sites there are monuments of the civilizations of Sumer, Aqad, Babylon, Assyria and Al-Hadar, and art and culture will be present, as well as with regard to tourist sites, as Iraq is not industrial, but is characterized by green nature, orchards, gardens, service and tourist facilities, and that religious tourism is one of the factors in Iraq’s success in the capital of tourism, and every place that is considered an attraction and has its visitors and visitors is a tourist site.”
Al-Badrani points out that “in early 2025 there will be two activities with the participation of the Arab Tourism Organization with the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, where there will be cultural, artistic and musical visits and events, and will include a visit to museums and the Iraqi Museum and a visit to archaeological and civilizational sites such as Ur, Babylon, Ashur and others, and all of which fall within the plan of the Ministry of Culture that it worked on, and there will also be events and hosting throughout the year.”
He shows that “the ministry’s goal is for tourism to have a large resource of at least one-third of Iraq’s budget, because the goal of Iraq and the Iraqi government and the program of the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani is to be tourism like agriculture, and both should reduce dependence on oil imports, and this is what is currently being worked on.”
He explains that “the project of the Arab capital of tourism for Baghdad is not intended for a luxury project or for the Tourism Authority or the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, but rather a state project aimed at changing the direction of the Iraqi state for a state in all its cities, including the capital Baghdad, which receives delegations and airports are full of traffic with travelers and tourist groups and go to various areas of Iraq from north to south.”
Tourist sites in Baghdad
For his part, the captain of the Iraqi tourists, Dr. Mohammed Al-Obeidi, that “choosing Baghdad as the capital of Arab tourism represents a great achievement for Iraq, but the achievement is usually achieved but is not maintained,” noting that “Baghdad is full of various tourist sites, whether historical, archaeological or religious, and the most important religious tourist attractions are the areas of Kadhimiya and Al-Azamiya, some ancient mosques and the shrines of clerics, in addition to archaeological and historical sites.”
Al-Obeidi adds to Shafaq News Agency, “There is also Zagora of Aqrqouf, which is one of the historical and religious monuments, and there is the central door of the rounded city of Baghdad and the monuments called (Tel Muhammad) within the scope of the new Baghdad area, as well as the Abbasid palace, the ancient civilizational and historical landmark, which represents a tourist facade of an important era that Baghdad went through.”
He continues, “There is also an ancient cultural and historical dimension in Baghdad, especially its beautiful location overlooking the Tigris River, in addition to Al-Qashla and Al-Mutanabi Street, which has become a kiss for various Arab and foreign tourists.”
He points out that “Baghdad is witnessing a renaissance in some resorts, tourist villages, hotels and luxury restaurants, which are in the ranks of first-class restaurants in the Middle East in their construction way, furniture, service method and type of food served in them. There is also the village of Degla, A Thousand Nights and One Nights, and Al-Nakheel City, and there are other resorts where work continues to work.”
He stresses that “Baghdad is characterized by its beautiful nature, which is represented by Al-Zawra Park, which is located in the heart of Baghdad, which is a kiss for local visitors to the city of Baghdad and even the cities near the capital and its outskirts, and Baghdad is witnessing the construction of some hotels that will be global such as the heart of the world and others, so there is a tourist origin in Baghdad.”
The importance of taking advantage of this occasion
Al-Obeidi calls for taking advantage of the occasion of choosing Baghdad as the capital of Arab tourism by taking into account the following:
Activating tourist events and activities by holding conferences and tourist festivals and inviting some personalities who influence public opinion in its various forms (art, sports, media) and making trips for them inside and outside Baghdad. This will give a beautiful global impression that Iraq is a tourist country and capable of hosting various tourists.
Training tourism cadres through holding training courses with the participation of experts from outside Iraq or sending local cadres abroad for the purpose of training, development and development, because it is noted that Iraq is retreating in this aspect, and therefore there is a need to raise tourism awareness.
Opening the door to investments in various tourist facilities and resorts, where it is expected that international companies will be present to take advantage of this occasion, which starts from the beginning of next year of January 1 and ends on December 31, during this period there must be some investment and economic activities through the establishment of agreements and treaties in order to complete tourism projects.
The exploitation of the Tigris River in Baghdad, which penetrates it from north to south, and this provides various tourist events and activities that should be exploited and invested properly, for example, the lack of cable car in Baghdad, and this if it was established to connect Al-Karkh to the rafa al-Rifa across the Tigris River, it would be a beautiful view, in addition to increasing the number of floats and boats and spread them on all sides of the Tigris River and establishing water events, various activities and parties, so Baghdad is rich in existing tourist aspects that can be invested.
Tourists are looking for important aspects such as housing and food, and these are currently available and will be better in the future, but there is a need to develop more infrastructure and services that the tourist needs, and what he suffers from permanently is the provision of electricity, and this is a major obstacle to the development of the tourism sector. There is also a need to develop streets, the health system and and ensure the lives of tourists from their entry to their exit, as well as many belongings, so there is a need for a correct tourist administrative leadership that exploits every day of this available period.
Activating the tourism media system to be that there is a media system specialized in the tourism sector that takes advantage of this period to display all that exists in Iraq of multiple and different tourist landmarks and aspects, in addition to activating the ongoing celebrations on the occasion of Baghdad’s victory on this occasion.
Activating some electronic aspects such as the website is launched on the occasion of the victory of Baghdad as well as launching specialized applications in the tourism sector to facilitate the tourist’s visit through reservation or viewing the archaeological monuments and others that the tourist wishes to visit.
There is a trend by the outside tourist on popular and heritage tourism, as it is observed that their presence is in the old areas of Karkh and in the popular and heritage areas represented by Al-Rashid Street and its surroundings, and visiting some old and heritage houses and simple popular restaurants, and this is due to the boredom of the external tourist from routine visits from luxurious urban construction and skyscrapers, so he wants to see the simple popular heritage life.
Incentive for planning and development processes
In turn, the expert and researcher in tourism sciences, antiquities and heritage, Ayed Ghalb Al-Tai, stresses that “Baghdad needs several components to actually promote tourism, as they do not fit and commensurate with the rest of the capitals, whether Arab, regional or global countries, as tourism facilities in Baghdad or in Iraq in general are no longer facilities that are no longer commensurate with the reality of the global situation, and this leads to a negative situation because tourism facilities need ingredients and these components achieve revenues that reflect positively on the high standard of services and the standard of living of the individual and its impact on society in general, thus lead to a rise in the level of total production of the country, and this is an important factor in “Iraq’s economy.”
Al-Tai points out during his interview to Shafaq News Agency, that “Baghdad, in the past and modern times, went through dark periods of wars and siege that led to a decrease and decline in the level of tourism patterns, and that Iraq, although full of thousands of archaeological, heritage or tourist sites, did not really exploit them to be an important tributary of the economy.”
He stresses that “Baghdad is experiencing a state of random pattern at the level of buildings as well as in other aspects, and that tourism patterns have not been well exploited, so the Ministry of Culture and Tourism or Tourism or the Tourism Authority should have a role in the level of development planning and develop a study on how to exploit tourist sites in line with achieving an economic incoming for Iraq.”
Al-Tai concludes his speech by saying that “choosing Baghdad may have been an incentive for Iraq to take its place in the history of Arab or regional countries or countries of the world because Baghdad deserves it, so the authorities concerned with tourism should be aware of this because choosing Baghdad as an opportunity to be the capital of Arab tourism is a courtesy, but at the same time it is an important incentive for the relevant circles to take their role in planning and development processes in line with the high standard of living of the individual and the rise of the country’s economy, and dependence on a single resource or on natural resources must not remain because it will run out in the future.”
Choosing Baghdad as the capital of Arab tourism
It is noteworthy that the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on December 10 that the Arab Tourism Organization had chosen the city of Baghdad as the capital of Arab tourism for 2025.
A statement from the ministry, which responded to Shafaq News Agency, said that this came during the meeting of the 27th session of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism, which was held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in Cairo.
The statement stated that Baghdad’s choice of this title came in recognition of the city’s meeting of the criteria adopted for choosing the Arab tourism capital, which include tourism management, infrastructure, tourism resources, various tourism activities, environmental conservation, health safety, and tourism security and stability.
The Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism welcomed the decision, while the President of the Arab Tourism Organization, Bandar bin Fahd Al Fahid, expressed his congratulations to President Abdullatif Rashid, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and the Iraqi government on this achievement.
Al Fahid stressed that this choice aims to promote intra-Arab tourism and highlight the cultural specificity of Baghdad.
He explained that the organization, in cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, will organize a ceremony to inaugurate Baghdad as the capital of Arab tourism in early 2025, in addition to a series of tourism events and programs that enhance Iraq’s position on the regional and international tourist map.
The statement pointed out that the achievement of this achievement came with joint efforts from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its representation in Cairo, the Ministry of Culture, and other supporting bodies.
