"How many Babylons are there in the world?" Tourism seeks to make its way in Iraq

Ali Almakhzomy, founder of the Iraqi tourism agency Bil Weekend, shows with his mobile the propaganda videos that Islamic State militants filmed while they destroyed the thousand-year-old sculptures of stone faces that surround the fortifications – the jihadists consider the reproduction of human faces a sin – .

“During the ISIS occupation [for its acronym in English] we were worried about Hatra.

[Islamic State] knew that the United States or the Iraqi army would not attack them there, and used it as a hiding place, ”he laments.

Ali Almakhzomy, a travel agent, listens to the local guide Mahmoud Abo Saif together with another Iraqi tourist in the ruins of the city of Hatra, on April 2. NÚRIA VILÀ

Hatra twice resisted the assault of the Romans thanks to its imposing walls, but this time it could not prevent the Islamic State from leaving it irreversibly marked.

In the ancient corridors of this great fortified city of the old Parthian empire, capital of the first Arab kingdom dating from 200 BC, you can still read graffiti in favor of the jihadists.

Unesco inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 1985, and now, after assessing the damage, it has decided to keep the traces of the most recent occupation as part of its history.

Hatra reopened to tourism just a year ago, after a maintenance process by the Italian mission.

“This site has gained a good reputation through word of mouth,” Almakhzomy explains as he walks alongside local guide Mahmoud Abo Saif.

In all the visits that he organizes, a local expert is in charge of conducting the visits.

Abo Saif stops in front of the site of a rectangular pit with a stepping stone on one side.

"We don't know if it was a Parliament or a theater," he admits, aware that there is still a lack of research on the site.

Abo Saif regrets, above all, not having been able to protect Hatra from the jihadists, despite living a few kilometers away.

“My heart was with the archaeological site, but I couldn't do anything,” he laments.

The tour guide Mahmoud Abo Saif regrets not having been able to protect Hatra from the jihadists, despite living a few kilometers away.

“My heart was with the archaeological site, but I couldn't do anything”

The year 2021 marked a turning point in international tourism in Iraq, with the visit of Pope Francis.

In addition, the Government began granting visas on arrival to more than 30 nationalities.

That year, nearly five million foreigners visited Iraq, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.

It is 145% more than the tourists arriving in 2020, due in large part to the pandemic.

It is beginning to get dark and, having left Baghdad in the morning, it is time to continue the journey north.

The sandy color, typical of the landscape in a large part of Iraq, begins to mix with the green of the northern mountains, and the temperature also drops considerably.

Following a little more than 100 kilometers, the tour arrives, at night, in Mosul, recognized in recent times for being the capital of the Islamic State caliphate.

Students on the tourist bus that runs through the city of Mosul, this April 3. NÚRIA VILÀ

Tourism not to forget

Walking through the streets of Mosul, it is inevitable to remember the occupation of the Islamic State, until just over five years ago.

Completely demolished houses coexist with the life that tries to make its way in the streets.

“Only the walls know what has happened here,” Almakhzomy muses as he walks through the old city.

Cultural wealth has inevitably been impacted by the jihadist occupation.

The Al Nuri Mosque, one of the most important Islamic centers in Iraq, is now under reconstruction by Unesco.

The Islamic State blew it up before retreating before the advancing Iraqi army and its allies in 2017. Al-Tahera Church, an iconic symbol of Mosul's history, was 90% destroyed and is now undergoing repairs.

Faced with the devastation, some tourists cry, others return to the bus and others listen to the guide's explanations until the end, explains the founder of the travel agency.

Despite the destruction that still surrounds the old city, right next door, the market has already been rebuilt.

A curious 15-year-old vendor wonders what some foreigners are doing visiting his city.

"What happened here five years ago?", we reply, ironically, referring to the occupation of the city by ISIS.

After a few seconds of doubt, he understands, with surprise.

"Ah, that's why…"

Babylon, a brand in itself

"Iraqis are the nicest people I've ever met," says American Britney with a smile from the entrance to one of Saddam Hussein's palaces in Babylon.

She has worked for a humanitarian organization in Erbil, in northern Iraq, for 8 years. Today she visits with Bil Weekend the mythical city that was the center of Mesopotamian civilization for thousands of years.

She is doing it for the fourth time now, but today is special, because she is accompanying her father, who has come to see her from Atlanta, in the southern United States. "I was not afraid of coming to Iraq, although the people around me were ”, admits Neil, his father.

With her cell phones they photograph the ruins, and even the jacuzzis of the dictator's palace.

They are planning a trip from the north to the south of the country, from Erbil to the marshes of southern Iraq.

They are just over halfway.

Neil, an American tourist, photographs with his mobile one of the jacuzzis of Saddam Hussein's palace in Babylon, on March 28.

Britney has the honor of being the first foreign tourist to sign up for the Bill Weekend tours since the entry into force of the

visa (on arrival at the airport) in 2021. "Being a tourist here is a greater challenge than in other countries," he admits.

“There is not much information, it is more difficult to find traditional clothes or music, or other food that is not kebab.

Although all that is changing, ”she says.

When it is time to get back to the cars, father and daughter come across an Assyrian family with whom they coincidentally share a hotel in Baghdad.

They visit Iraq to mark the Assyrian New Year, after their father migrated to Australia years earlier.

"You look on the internet and everywhere they send emergency notices about Iraq... I was terrified before I came," admits one of her daughters, who has seen how her fears have dissipated once she has arrived in the country.

"All propaganda!" replies the father.

Passionate about culture since he was a child, Almakhzomy, the founder of the travel agency, had to go into exile with his family in 2005, when his brother disappeared at the start of the sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites.

They have never heard of his whereabouts again.

Four years later, after living in Malaysia, Almakhzomy, now 35, returned to Baghdad.

He intended to study Law, but ended up becoming interested in tourism.

“I started to see that Iraqi families did not visit the monuments, that they were always closed.

First because of Saddam, then because of the US invasion, the lack of security...”.

Almakhzomy likes to interact with the tourists he meets, aware of Iraq's archaeological potential and the value that tourism can bring to a country still recovering from decades of war.

“Tourists bring dollars.

Encouraging tourism in Iraq would help improve services: transportation, restaurants, hotels;

it would attract investors in the heritage sites… How many Babylons are there in the world?

The name is already a brand.

Babylon used to be the center of the world,” she explains.

And she emphasizes: “Iraq is stable, safe, it is not very expensive, and tourists have a visa upon arrival.

Now they have the opportunity to visit the marshes.

This is one of the five countries in the world most affected by the climate crisis.

If they don't come now, in 10 years they may be gone."

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