IRAQ-SULAIMANIYA/BALLOON TOURISM Kurdish businessman offers balloon flight for tourists of Sulaimaniya city

Record ID: 154900

  • Title: IRAQ-SULAIMANIYA/BALLOON TOURISM Kurdish businessman offers balloon flight for tourists of Sulaimaniya city
  • Date: 18th May 2015
  • Summary: SULAIMANIYA, IRAQ (RECENT, 2015) (REUTERS) HOT AIR BALLOON BEING FILLED WITH HOT AIR MORE OF HOT AIR BALLOON BEING FILLED WITH HOT AIR MEN HANDLING BALLOON AS IT IS FILLED WITH HOT AIR WRITING ON SHIRT READING (English) KURDISTAN BALLOONING (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) HEAD OF KURDISTAN BALLOON COMPANY, GORAN RAHMAN, SAYING: "It was my wish three or four years ago and it came tru
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACLEDXPESUNSXV1KW10OSSWBC0
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The sight of a hot air balloon floating through the sky is ordinary in many parts of the world, but in Iraq's Kurdistan region, it is less familiar.
    This tourist activity, launched in 2014 in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya by a Kurdish businessman, is the first of its kind in the region and in Iraq as a whole. It has attracted much attention from both the locals and Arab and foreign tourists of the city.
    Pursuing a dream of flying a hot air balloon, businessman Goran Rahman travelled to France to get assistance from Planete Balloon, a consulting company specialised in ballooning.
    "It was my wish three or four years ago and it came true. I travelled to Europe and more specifically to France to meet experts of Planete Balloon. I met them and concluded a deal with them to launch a ballooning venture and for this purpose I brought their experts to Kurdistan to get information on the nature and condition of Kurdistan," said Rahman who has a scaffolding business.
    Rahman said Sulaimaniya was chosen by the company's experts because of its moderate weather and its scenic beauty, which is characterised by vast green valleys and mountain ranges.
    "Convinced of the suitability of Kurdistan region to ballooning, Planete Balloon sent its staff and Sulaimaniya was chosen for ballooning because of its scenery and its weather," Rahman added.
    He said that the prime object of his $1,050 million worth project is to help people relax and enjoy their time, saying that tourists are usually excited when they hear that there is ballooning.
    "I wanted to bring a different project to Kurdistan to distract people's attention from the current situation and make them forget about war and fighting. It is also meant to boost tourism and lure more tourists to the region. We have many tourists from Iran and from Iraq's southern and central provinces and also from Turkey and other neighbouring countries. Tourists usually call us to explore touristic attractions of the city and they usually ask if we only have natural landscape and mountains and we tell them that we have now a new thing; ballooning and this encourages them to come," Rahman said.
    Rahman's Kurdistan Balloon has three balloons of different sizes, the smallest one accommodates four passengers, while the largest can accommodate up to 18 passengers; Rahman said that he plans to bring more balloons to meet an increase in the number of passengers.
    According to Rahman his customers are mainly well-to-do Iraqi Arabs from central and southern provinces and tourists from neighbouring countries, including Iran and Turkey, who can afford to pay the $100 ticket fee for a one-hour flight, per person.
    "The current situation and fighting have not affected our project, but what has really affected our project is the financial status of the people of the Kurdistan region. The financial status of the people of the area is not good. Most of the people who come to have a ride in the balloon are wealthy people from the central and southern parts of Iraq because like any other tourist activity, ballooning is for those who can afford it," Rahman added.
    More than a fifth of Kurdistan's five million people are on a government payroll that has swollen to 840 billion dinars ($722 million) a month - 70 percent of public spending in 2013
    Baghdad cut budget payments to the Kurds in January 2014 over the semi-autonomous region's oil policies.
    They were reinstated in December after the Kurds agreed to export an average of 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Ceyhan via Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) in 2015.
    According to Rahman money generated from the project is barely enough to pay the salaries of his 10 ground staff and maintenance and service of the balloons and other equipment.
    Citizen of Sulaimaniya, Serbist Abdul Rahman, was excited about the flying adventure, saying that he would recommend it to friends and relatives.
    "This is the first time for me to get into a balloon in Kurdistan. I am so pleased and I thank the company for bringing balloon to Kurdistan and to Iraq. It is true that I paid a lot of money, but it was so enjoyable and it really deserves the money I paid. I will tell my relatives and friends to come and try it because it is so exciting," said Abdul Rahman.
    Kurdistan Balloon organises daily flights except when there are heavy rains and strong winds, which make a balloon difficult to steer and flying conditions dangerous.
    The balloon flies at an altitude of 1000 feet and is usually filled with enough hot air sufficient for a two-hour flight, as a precaution measure for emergency cases. The pilot determines the location of take off place, but where the journey ends is determined by the direction of the wind.
    Rahman's future plans include adding a helicopter and a sailplane to the list of activities as well as opening up training courses for the public.
    The Kurdish region, which has enjoyed autonomy from Baghdad since U.S. intervention after the 1991 Gulf War, has seen almost none of the insecurity and violence that has bedevilled the rest of Iraq since Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003.
    The tourism boom in the largely tranquil north has been one of the most tangible benefits of regime change for the Kurds. To some it offers rare hope that the country's deep sectarian divisions, exacerbated by 35 years of Ba'athist rule, can finally be overcome.
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