“This is our first time visiting the region. We saw that there was a trip to the Kurdistan Region and decided to visit this beautiful place,” tourist Ranna Ahmad told Rudaw on Friday.
“Every year when it snows, I come here from Erbil with my family and friends,” said Mohammed Ismail, another tourist.
For Tolum Virgil, from the Philippines, this was his first time walking in snow.
Visitors to the mountain resort 60 kilometres northeast of Erbil had snowball fights and danced in the snow.
The resort welcomes 3,000 to 4,000 visitors daily and has plans to expand, according to Korek’s project manager Hussein Ali.
“We are preparing to hold a snow festival… and we are also building a new hotel to welcome our tourists,” Ali told Rudaw.
Mount Korek is the Kurdistan Region’s largest and most popular winter attraction. Tourists can ski, play other winter and adventure sports, and dance to stay warm. It was opened to the public in 2013 after three years of construction as part of the government’s plan to boost winter tourism.
With its relatively moderate temperature in comparison to the rest of the country and its tremendous nature, the Kurdistan Region’s tourism sector is growing. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) plans to attract 20 million tourists annually by 2030.
