Shaqlawa boasts a total of 32 restaurants and cafes. Ahmad Akram, a restaurant owner, with three decades of experience working with tourists, chose to expand his establishment’s capacity in preparation for the current year, doubling his business’s table count and staff members.
"We have been preparing for the summer tourists for about two months. Compared to previous years, we have increased the number of tables and staff. We hope that our market will fare better this year than in previous years,” Akram told Rudaw on Sunday.
In Shaqlawa, there are 51 hotels, motels, and tourist resorts with the capacity to accommodate approximately 10,000 tourists per night. These establishments have been gearing up for the influx of summer tourists for approximately two months.
Khalil Khurshid, owner of a resort and motel, said that he has prepared better this year compared to previous years. However, noting that steep electricity costs have become a significant burden for him.
“The only problem we have is the high price of electricity [from private generators] which is considered to be commercial electricity,” Khurshid said.
According to data from the Shaqlawa Tourism Directorate, approximately 32,000 tourists have visited Shaqlawa during the initial four months of this year.
In 2007, Shaqlawa welcomed 13,740 tourists. However, by 2023, this number had surged to 172,547,000 tourists, marking a nearly fourteen-fold increase compared to seventeen years prior.
Based on data from the tourism board, millions of tourists visit the Region every year.
With its relatively moderate temperature in comparison to the rest of the country and its tremendous nature, the Kurdistan Region’s tourism has been a booming sector in recent years.
The KRG plans to attract 20 million tourists per year by 2030.
