Date 19/8/04

www.iol.co.za 

Budding British travel operator Don Lucey has a novel idea for a holiday N visit Iraq.

Undeterred by kidnappings of foreigners, a raging insurgency and general lawlessness that probably makes Iraq the most dangerous place in the world, Lucey is planning a genteel tour for around 10 people at the end of September.

He is even bringing his 16-year-old daughter along.

"I'm adamant this trip will go ahead. It seems a forbidden place to visit, people are interested in that," said Lucey, a former soldier and policeman who worked in Iraq in 2003 and set up Bann Tours in Swindon, western England, the same year.

"It has a lot to offer, a lot of history. It's not just all war and people killing each other. Obviously terrorists scare a lot of people, but people like myself want to prove that they are not in control," he said in a telephone interview.

Iraq was never popular for tourists under Saddam Hussein, but it did draw people to sites of ancient civilisations such as Babylon and Ur, the Shia Muslim holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala, and its beautiful lakes, mountains and deserts.

Since US-led forces ousted Saddam in April 2003, about the only tourists have been pilgrims from neighbouring Iran.

Television images of the insurgency are grim, from foreigners held hostage pleading for their lives to charred bodies strewn about in the wake of suicide car bomb attacks.

Lucey said tourism in Iraq had to start somewhere, and that he and his clients were determined to be the catalyst. The 10-day trip, which will take in some ancient sites, costs أ‚آ£1 200 per person, not including insurance.

Another man who has high hopes for the industry is Ahmed al-Jobori, head of the state-run Iraqi Tourism Board.

Jobori has a 10-year plan to develop tourism and make it a pillar in an economy that has few natural resources besides oil. He hopes Iraq can draw two to three million tourists a year by then. But for now, even he warns tourists to stay away.

"We don't want good people from all over the world to come and be captured by criminals. I think they must wait," he said.

One element of his tourism plan includes a multi-million dollar development on Al Aras island on the Tigris River in the south of Baghdad. The project envisages five-star hotels and a Disney-type theme park.

Tourism is not just about revenue, Jobori believes.

"We need to change the psychology of Iraqis. If we give them a Disney city, if they have places to spend time at, they will feel free from sadness and terrorism and fear."

Iraq could leverage its bloody past in the same way that Vietnam and Cambodia have done.

Indeed, if security does improve, thrill-seeking backpackers keen for a whiff of danger and the kudos of saying "I've been to Baghdad", could be the first to start coming. But that might be some time off if Lonely Planet guidebooks, the bible for many backpackers, is any indication.

"The turbulent and extreme domestic situation makes Iraq one of the least desirable places in the world to be," Lonely Planet says on its website.

Jobori said he wanted Iraq's three recent wars and Saddam's atrocities to feature on the tourist map. This included Abu Ghraib prison, Saddam's notorious torture chamber and more recently where US soldiers abused Iraqi inmates.

Other Saddam excesses that could be exploited are the marbled palaces he built across Iraq, including several in his hometown of Tikrit that overlook the majestic Tigris.

And of course no trip to Iraq would be complete without visiting the famous hole in the ground just south of Tikrit where US troops found Saddam hiding last December.

For now, some of Iraq's most famous sites are home to foreign troops under the US-led military coalition.

Babylon, fabled home of the Hanging Gardens, is headquarters for 2 500 Polish troops stationed in Iraq.

Getting to Iraq is also not easy.

There are no commercial carriers serving Baghdad, just Royal Jordanian flights from Amman that are usually reserved for journalists, aid workers and civilian contractors.

Those flights are not for the squeamish N pilots make a spiral descent to evade surface-to-air missiles. As for roads into Iraq, they are the domain of kidnappers and bandits.

Briton Geoff Hann, who runs a company called Hinterland Travel, ran a tour to Iraq in October billed as the first since the US-led invasion. He wants to lead several more, but security is too precarious.

"The problem at this time is that while Westerners are being targeted I cannot ask clients to come with me," said Hann, who has been organising tours to Iraq since the 1970s.

Lucey said security would be the priority during his trip, underscoring that by declining to give details of the itinerary.