ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Some 250 companies hailing 20 countries kicked off the four-day Middle East Tourism Expo in Erbil on Sunday.
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, Minister of Municipalities and Tourism Newroz Mawlood Amin, and Iraqi Minister of Culture and Tourism Abdulameer al-Hamdani inaugurated the event.
The companies are from 10 Arab and five European countries, Iran, Turkey, and some southeastern Asia countries are participating in the event. It was last held in 2017.
Various panels will discuss the importance of tourism and the Kurdistan Region to glean knowledge from the experience of the attending countries. The exhibition will continue until Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
According to figures from Kurdistan Region tourism body, 76,000 tourists came to the Kurdistan Region in the two days before the Kurdish new year, Newroz, on March 21 last year reaching 234,000 by the end of the month.