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London-based tour company Hinterland Travel, the first Western firm to bring a group of foreign tourists to Iraq since the 2003 U.S-led invasion, announced today that it will return to the Middle Eastern country this year with more tourists, the AFP reports. The company has prepared trips for April, May, September, October and November.
Hinterland's first organized trip to Iraq took place earlier this month, as armed guards in civilian clothes accompanied eight tourist— five Britons, two Americans and a Canadian.
Iraq's tourism ministry took the visit as an opportunity to promote the country after years off the world holiday map.
"This is a message to the whole world that the new Iraq is now ready to return to a normal situation with security and stability," ministry spokesman Abdul Zahra al-Telagani told the AFP.