UNDP Iraq, USAID to revitalize tourism in northern Iraq

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Iraq and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with the Ministry of Tourism in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to unveil the ‘Reform Roadmap,’ a groundbreaking plan to revitalize tourism in the region, according to a statement issued by the UNDP.

The statement mentioned that the Kurdistan region of Iraq is the most popular travel destination within Iraq, where greenery and picturesque mountains are located.

In this area of the country, the tourism and hospitality sectors have emerged as one of the key drivers of economic growth and job creation in the region, according to the statement.

The UNDP illustrated that the reform roadmap identifies areas that are most important for sustainable and successful tourism development in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The statement elaborated that the reform roadmap focuses on recommendations with the biggest impact on the tourism industry, including tourism legislation, laws, and regulations; marketing; and developing tourism sites and products.

The Roadmap provides guidance on how to stimulate private sector investment through different financing modalities, such as public-private partnerships for the development of tourism sites and products, according to the UNDP.

The statement added that the roadmap also includes a comparative study of the legal framework of the tourism sector to examine the institutional structure and quality assessment criteria of countries with well-established tourism industries in the Middle East and Europe, taking these best practices and applying them to this context.