Baghdad – INA
Iraq’s Tourism Authority announced on Wednesday the formation of a crisis cell operating around the clock under the direct supervision of the head of the authority to monitor and develop operations in the tourism sector during the Eid al-Adha holiday, while vowing to take strict legal measures against unlicensed tourism companies.
Director of Relations and Media and official spokesperson for the authority, Ali Yassin Abdul Redha, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that “tourism committees in departments and governorates have mobilized all efforts to detect and monitor any violations at official and classified tourism facilities of first-class rating and above, in order to ensure the quality of services provided to citizens.”
He noted that direct hotlines had been established to receive citizens’ complaints and hold negligent parties accountable.
Abdul Redha added that “the authority has deployed special inspection detachments and checkpoints along roads leading to the Kurdistan Region governorates, particularly at the Kirkuk and Al-Shaab checkpoints, to monitor tourist groups, inspect company documentation, and verify that the companies are officially registered and licensed.”
He stated that “the number of official and licensed tourism companies compliant with the authority’s regulations has exceeded 1,050 companies.”
The spokesperson further said that “the authority has significantly succeeded in curbing the phenomenon of fake companies and fraudulent social media pages compared to previous periods,” calling on citizens to “deal exclusively with licensed companies that have known offices and to avoid being misled by low prices advertised by fake websites.”
He explained that penalties against violating companies begin with warnings and financial fines of up to 500,000 Iraqi dinars and may escalate to the revocation of operating licenses in the event of repeated violations, while owners of unregistered, fake companies will be referred to the judiciary to face legal consequences.
