Iraq Plans & Theme Parks for Tourism Boom

[katty]

(this is what so many continue to die for?)
more at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article325277.ece

Iraq plans hotel and theme parks for a tourism boom
By Kim Sengupta in Baghdad
Published: 07 November 2005

A £48m, five-star, 23-storey hotel rising in the city centre; an opulent palace complex being turned into a theme park; cheap flights to the picturesque "Venice of the east" - all the trappings of a country gearing up for a tourist boom.

Except the country in question is Iraq. With a new constitution and elections in the offing, officials insist there is a new beginning. The tourist board has 2,400 staff and 14 offices.

There has been a rise in the volume of travellers, with Iraqis either leaving or expatriates returning for visits. And there is also the continuous and steady number of foreigners, mainly contractors, coming in for the huge wages they can now command for working in such a risky environment.

The planned hotel is very much at an embryonic stage. The land - in the heavily guarded Green Zone - has been donated by the Iraqi government, and the finance is being provided by an Iraqi businessman.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. And the added thrill of an unexpected mortar attack

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Should I ask AAA for a TripTik for the airport road?

I'd hate to make a wrong turn and wind up in a bad neighborhood..

[politicaholic]

3. Finally, a whole Las Vegas country!

Yup, 50 years from now people are going to be flocking to Las Iraqas to see a Tom Jones impersonator and Madonna's Grandkids On Ice.