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What it’s like to run a travel agency specializing in visits to Iraq
DestinationsMichigan travel agency owner Ihab Zaki just returned from taking a group of American tourists on vacation to Iraq. Yep. Iraq. And he plans to offer two more trips there in November and next March. Zaki, owner of Spiekermann Travel in Eastpointe, specializes in unusual trips to the Middle East and North Africa. Last year, [...]
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Iraq lays out plans to rebuild its devastated rail network
DestinationsIn a shabby, rusty train that had just left Baghdad for the southern city of Basra, Riyadh Saleh moved restlessly from carriage to carriage, searching for a comfortable, air-conditioned seat. Saleh was one of about 200 passengers taking a 25-year-old diesel train to Basra last week; he was enticed by fares as low as 7,500 [...]
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Iraqi Kurdistan breaks out as an emerging tourism hotspot in a troubled region
DestinationsIraqi Kurdistan has come a long way very quickly. In 2007 it had just 106 hotels, and it now boasts more than 400. They’ve built a $400 million state-of-the-art airport in Erbil and two others across Kurdistan. Marriott is building a massive complex in Erbil called the Empire that will include a five-star hotel, a [...]
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FAA lifts a 16-year ban to allow U.S. commercial airlines to fly to Iraq
TransportThe U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is lifting a 16-year-old ban on commercial flights by U.S. carriers to two airports in Kurdish northern Iraq, citing increased stability in the region. Civilian flights to that nation, which had been the scene of a U.S.-imposed no-fly zone and then a war to depose President Saddam Hussein, were halted [...]
