Minister Shahab said:
"After decades of enforced isolation, it is important for us to host foreign guests and share our culture with the outside world. It also allows our citizens to learn more about other societies. Now that the Region is replete with hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, and entertainment venues, the number of annual visitors has skyrocketed."
Dr Bandar Bin Fahd Al Fahid, who heads the Arab Tourism Organisation, congratulated the Kurdistan Regional Government for ensuring that Erbil met all the criteria required to be selected as Arab Tourism Capital of 2014. He added:
"I assure you that we will work closely together to ensure the success of Erbil next year."
Commenting on this conference and the award to Erbil, the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Minister Falah Mustafa said:
"We believe that this is an important achievement particularly as tourism helps to increase interaction among people of different cultures and backgrounds through the discovery of each other's culture, traditions, music, sports and archaeology just to name a few. We hope that the tourism sector in Erbil and the whole of Kurdistan continues to grow so that it can be a worldwide destination for many."
The opening ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Sinan Celebi, along with members of the diplomatic community in Kurdistan and officials from the public and private sector.
(Source: KRG)
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