New resort opens in Iraq

IT’S Friday afternoon and the queue for the downhill toboggan run is getting longer.

Sirwan Mohammed catches his breath as he hops off the luge with his grandfather in tow and joins the back of the line for another go. “It’s great fun no matter how old you are,” he enthuses. “Who says you can’t have fun in Iraq?”
Welcome to the Pank resort, a multi-million-dollar leisure complex that would be unremarkable in most parts of the world. But in a country riven by war the sight of alpine-style chalets, manicured lawns and a roller-coaster sledge ride comes as a shock.
It is easy to forget that this is Iraq. Even more so when you take in the stunning backdrop of some of Kurdistan’s highest peaks.
“Simply strap yourself in and let gravity do the rest,” an attendant tells a pair of thrill-seekers as he gives the cart a gentle shove. “There’s no need for any steering,” he tells them as they slide forward, “you do have a brake handle.”
Once complete the site will boast a five-star hotel, restaurants, swimming pools, saunas, tennis courts, helipads and mini golf. A cable car will be also constructed across the spectacular gorge where only eagles dare.
“It is the first such tourist investment in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein,” says its proud owner, Hazem Kurda, a former refugee from the Baathist regime, who made his fortune importing raw brown rice into the EU from his new home in Sweden.
Like thousands in the Kurdish diaspora who left under Saddam Hussain he returned home after the “liberation” in 2003.
“I saw an opportunity. People may say I am crazy. But building a proper responsible tourist industry in Kurdistan could benefit Iraq as a whole,” he says. “Tourism could help wean us from our reliance on oil.”
The site near the town of Rowanduz is situated 1,000 metres up, on a narrow tongue of rock that slopes down from Korek mountain between the deep canyons of two rivers, then narrows and ends in a small plateau. It is on this plateau that Mr Kurda chose to develop the resort. But first he had to remove the mines left behind by Saddam’s army.
The new complex is just part of broader plans to develop the tourist sector elsewhere in Iraqi Kurdistan. Mr Kurda is just the kind of risk-taker the authorities are looking for.
“We would like to see more investors like him,” says Nimrud Beito, the tourism minister, in the new tourism ministry in the regional capital, Irbil.
The Kurdish regional government has introduced tax breaks for anyone who wants to take the plunge, he says.
An Assyrian from the northern city of Dohuk, Mr Beito says the region has much to offer: “ancient archaeological sites, cultural and religious locations, and splendid natural scenery.”
He foresees a growth in activity tourism, rock climbing, white water rafting and bird watching.
The tourism infrastructure is rudimentary at best. The few decent hotels are over-priced and are often full of visiting businessmen. There are no tour guides or information packs. Few taxi drivers speak a foreign language. And if you venture on to the roads by yourself, the Saddam-era maps will soon get you lost.
 Frustrated with the image of Iraq in the outside world, the Kurdish authorities are trying to present another face. “The focus is on building a future rather than on simply trying to stay alive,” says Mr Beito.
Much is made of the Kurds’ friendliness to foreigners and the fact that not a single American soldier has been killed in the region since 2003.
The British Foreign Office also recently altered its travel advisory to northern Iraq to reflect its relative stability.
Despite the proximity to strife-torn cities such as Mosul and Kirkuk, and with the Turkish army camped on the northern borders, Iraqi Kurdistan remains remarkably calm.
The first British package tour to Kurdistan has just returned home.
Geoff Hahn of Hinterland Travel, who has been organising Iraq tours for the best part of 30 years, took a group to Rowanduz, Yezidi villages, Irbil’s ancient citadel – reputedly the world’s oldest continuously inhabited place, and the site of the legendary battle of Arbella between Alexander the Great and the Persians.
“We are an adventure travel firm and it was an adventure,” he says. “But it was a good one and we already have plenty of interest for another tour in September.”
For Mr Kurda the resort is the fulfilment of a childhood dream. As a 12-year-old he would slip past the Iraqi guard posts keeping a watchful eye on his hometown and perch on the edge of the gorge to study his schoolbooks.
The Kurdish hope for a tourism influx may yet be disappointed. A bomb attack against the interior ministry in Irbil in May, which killed a number of civilians, was a reminder of the terrorist threat. But with two international airports built since 2003 the once isolated region is now more accessible.
Last December Austrian Airlines became the first international scheduled airline to fly into Iraq. Occupancy is running at 80 per cent, and the route is one of the best performing on the Austrian network, according to Peter Katzlberger, the country director in Iraq.