Iraq gets ready for a tourist boom

A $85 million, five star, 23-storey hotel rising in the city centre; an opulent palace complex being turned into a theme park; cheap flights to the picturesque 'Venice of the East': all the trappings of a country gearing up for a tourist boom.

Except that the country in question is Iraq, possibly the most dangerous place in the world, with a daily toll of dead from bombs and bullets, and foreigners viewed as kidnapping material.

After President George W Bush officially declared a successful end to the Iraq War, investors rushed to seminars and conferences eager to get their slice of the action of the commercial riches.

Following decades of privation caused by wars and United Nations sanctions, the country - with its massive oil wealth promised fabulous returns, and its vast array of antiquities, picturesque marshland and miles of golden coast, as well as 102 airports - made tourism look particularly promising.

The ferocious and continuous violence that followed appeared to put an end to these dreams.

But now, with a new constitution and elections in the offing, officials insist there is a new beginning.

Although the country is in a state of war, the Iraqi tourist board currently has 2,400 staff and 14 offices around the country. There has also been a significant rise in the volume of travellers, with Iraqis either leaving the country or expatriates returning for visits.

And there is also the continuous and steady number of foreigners, mainly contractors, coming in for the huge wages they can now command for working in such a risky environment.

The hotel is very much at an embryonic stage. It is planned to be inside the Green Zone in the centre of the Baghdad where the US and Iraqi administration function behind guarding tanks, blast walls and sandbags.

The land has been donated by the Iraqi government, and an Iraqi businessman is providing the finance.

Thair Feeley, the chairman of the Iraqi Commission for Investment (ICI), insists everything is in place.

"It is not true that it will be a five star hotel", he says with a dramatic flourish, "but a seven-and-a-half stars one".

The hotel is intended to have the usual accruements of the top of the price range - plush suites, business centres, conference halls, and a golf range.

However, this is Iraq and Mr Feeley is not keen to make more details of the structure made public for "security reasons".

Nor is he willing to reveal the name of the businessman risking such a large amount of money, again for "security reasons".

The building will have to be constructed to withstand a certain level of mortar and rocket attack, just as the one major existing hotel inside the Green Zone, Al Rashid, was built to do during the Iran-Iraq war.

It should, theoretically at least, have a chance of success.

Despite the carnage outside and its somewhat shabby appearance, the Rashid can still charge $150 a night and foreign visitors, apart from a handful from the media, stay inside the Green Zone.

The visitors are also used to paying $4,000 for the half-hour journey from Baghdad airport to the Green Zone, escorted by armed private security guards, and the ICI believe that people and organisations with that kind of money will not shirk at paying top dollar for luxury accommodation.

Another plan by the Iraqi government is to turn Saddam Hussein's former palaces at his hometown of Tikrit into a themed tourist destination.

The complex, which contains 18 palaces and 118 other buildings, is surrounded by rolling gardens overlooking the Tigris.

The palaces were built after Iraq's defeat in the first Gulf War in what the Baathists say was a symbol of defiance and were reputed to be among the favourite residences of the Iraqi leader.

Until last week they had been the headquarters of the US army's 42nd Airborne Division, but have now been vacated.

Major General Joseph Taluto, the outgoing regional commander, said, "This place is the symbol of one man's wealth.

We have maintained the building and now it is time to return it to the people."Government officials maintain that Iraqis, as well as foreigners, would welcome the chance to see the grandiose staircases, the huge carved mahogany doors and marble halls and massive chandeliers hanging from ceilings covered with multicoloured arabesque designs.

Mohammed Abbas, a regional official, said, "Ordinary Iraqis were never allowed into these palaces in the time of Saddam.

It will be an opportunity for them to see how their money was spent.

International visitors will also be able to see the kind of lifestyle Saddam and his circle enjoyed.

We can bring in Saddam artefacts and show it the way it used to be."Iraq's new constitution paves the way for a transfer of political and economic power from the Sunni to the Shias, and Basra, the capital of the Shia south, sees itself turning into a major international destination.

With its lagoons and canals, Iraq's second city was known in the past as the Venice and Amsterdam of the east.

There are now regular flights from there to Dubai, Amman and Kuwait, and new ones due to start to Tehran and other destinations in the Gulf.

Old photographs of Basra show families strolling in the corniche with white-jacketed waiters serving in the waterside bars.

Public consumption of alcohol is now strictly taboo in the city but tourism officials point out one can enjoy the restaurants, cafes and ice cream parlours and take boat trips on the Shatt- Al Arab waterway.

Basra has officially declared itself open for tourism.

But as in any place there are some 'dos' and 'don'ts' for visitors.

"Tourists should dress like locals and maybe dye their hair a dark colour. They should have armed guards and they should be always vigilant", said Abdul Razuqi, a senior tourist official.

"Then there is good 70 to 80 per cent chance that they will be alright.

"There is a lot to see here."
- INDEPENDENT