French Tour Company Offers Winter Getaway to Iraq
Holiday firm promotes Christmas pilgrimage to Kurdistan
This Christmas those in search of adventure away from the warm fires of home have another choice: an eight-day tour of Iraq.
A French tour company, Terre Entiere, is offering a trip to the northern region of Kurdistan, as a Christmas pilgrimage.
The aim of the trip, priced at $3,000 per person (?1,704) is to "get behind the headlines", according to Pierre Simon, a spokesman for the travel group.
Travelers will stay in a Christian seminary outside Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan, and while individual rooms are available, they are "by no means luxurious".
"Iraq isn't just what we see on television every night," Simon said, pointing out that the trip is a chance to "understand and share with the Iraqi people".
Terre Entiere, founded more than 30 years ago, specializes in adventurous tours and has made trips available in countries such as Libya and Syria.
For security reasons, the precise itinerary of the Iraq trip is being kept secret and even those who have already paid for their tour to begin December 22, have not been told quite where they will be going.
Regional authorities have long been trying to promote Iraqi Kurdistan, known for its lush green mountains, as an international tourist destination.
Locally, tourism has increased. This summer, more than 23,000 Iraqis headed north to the region, up from just 3,700 last year, tourism officials have said.
The trip from France will not be the first time western tourists have come to Kurdistan since the war broke out in 2003.
In June, the Long Beach, California-based travel agency Distant Horizons carried out a 12-day visit to the region. "It was a very successful trip," said owner Janet Moore, who expects to send two to three more groups to Kurdistan in 2009.
"The major stumbling block for this kind of trip is marketing, the perception people have that they're going to Iraq," said Moore. She believes, however, that the region's tourism potential is enormous.
Although Kurdistan is among the safest regions in Iraq, a suicide attack on area Kurdish party offices in 2004 killed 109 people.
In the "unlikely event" another such attack were to happen in the coming months, Terre Entiere organizers have said they will cancel the trip.
A French tour company, Terre Entiere, is offering a trip to the northern region of Kurdistan, as a Christmas pilgrimage.
The aim of the trip, priced at $3,000 per person (?1,704) is to "get behind the headlines", according to Pierre Simon, a spokesman for the travel group.
Travelers will stay in a Christian seminary outside Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan, and while individual rooms are available, they are "by no means luxurious".
"Iraq isn't just what we see on television every night," Simon said, pointing out that the trip is a chance to "understand and share with the Iraqi people".
Terre Entiere, founded more than 30 years ago, specializes in adventurous tours and has made trips available in countries such as Libya and Syria.
For security reasons, the precise itinerary of the Iraq trip is being kept secret and even those who have already paid for their tour to begin December 22, have not been told quite where they will be going.
Regional authorities have long been trying to promote Iraqi Kurdistan, known for its lush green mountains, as an international tourist destination.
Locally, tourism has increased. This summer, more than 23,000 Iraqis headed north to the region, up from just 3,700 last year, tourism officials have said.
The trip from France will not be the first time western tourists have come to Kurdistan since the war broke out in 2003.
In June, the Long Beach, California-based travel agency Distant Horizons carried out a 12-day visit to the region. "It was a very successful trip," said owner Janet Moore, who expects to send two to three more groups to Kurdistan in 2009.
"The major stumbling block for this kind of trip is marketing, the perception people have that they're going to Iraq," said Moore. She believes, however, that the region's tourism potential is enormous.
Although Kurdistan is among the safest regions in Iraq, a suicide attack on area Kurdish party offices in 2004 killed 109 people.
In the "unlikely event" another such attack were to happen in the coming months, Terre Entiere organizers have said they will cancel the trip.
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