May 26, 2008
Iraq and Afghanistan hope to attract tourists
Chances are good that these two countries are not on your list of places to visit – although if you want to catch up with Charles Veley, and visit almost every country, state and island in the world, you will have to reconsider.
Surprisingly, Iraq actually attracted over 500,000 tourists last year, although virtually all of them were from neighboring Iran. The Iraqi tourist board (yes, apparently there is one!) admits the country would have a hard time attracting American and European tourists, although it is trying hard to do just that. Marriot is supposedly considering building a hotel in Baghdad and several Iraqi companies actually offer guided group tours of Baghdad and other destinations – complete with security.
There is no Iraqi tourist office in the USA, although there is a tourist office in Baghdad (protected by blast walls) and this site does quite a good job of trying to persuade me that Iraq may be a good place to visit. A rather different account of daily life in Iraq can be read here.
Afghanistan is another unlikely tourist destination and the country has been working hard recently to attract foreign visitors. This site does a good job of making the country sound like an appealing destination and indeed some of the attractions do sound intriguing. Tourist attractions include the Hindu Kush mountain area, the ancient town of Bamiyan and the many beautiful examples of Islamic architecture. Many people do visit the country and live to tell the tale - for example, this article describes the challenge of playing a round of golf at the Kabul Golf Club.
If you want to experience something of Afghanistan’s fascinating culture a little bit closer to home, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC is currently hosting a display of almost 200 artifacts and sculptures from the country, some of them dating from 2000 BC. If you prefer to read about dangerous places, I can recommend this book.
Guest entry by Mancunian
Posted by James Trotta at May 26, 2008 7:14 PM | TrackBack