http://www.travel.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml;$sessionid$LKICXAQ4ELQGTQFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/travel/2003/01/18/etnewsiraq18.xml&sSheet=/travel/2003/01/18/ixtrvhome.html

from Telegraph.co.uk

‘Incredibly friendly’ Iraq next stop for British tour company
By Paul Miles

A British tour operator has teamed up with Baghdad’s ministry of tourism to organise a programme of sightseeing tours of Iraq.

Six Britons and two Americans are booked to go on the first tour, a 15-day trip departing on March 16.

Hinterland Travel, based in Godstone, Surrey, has been running archaeological tours of Iraq since 1970. The company’s two-page brochure on Iraq says: "Iraq is weary of conflict and dissension and very eager to renew goodwill, especially with the British. This is a good time to travel and we can offer you a real experience."

"The Iraqis are incredibly friendly and have a particular affinity for the British," said Hinterland’s managing director, Geoff Hann. "Our groups are perfectly safe. Our itinerary has been approved by the Iraqi ministry of tourism and we have government guides and minders."

The tour covers the whole country, with visits to historic sites such as Ur, Nimrod and Babylon. "The country is the foundation of our history and culture," said Mr Hann. "The first early cities were there and there are fabulous religious Shia Muslim sites. Few tourists have been there in the last 30 years."

Accommodation is in four- and five-star hotels and, according to Mr Hann, food is plentiful, featuring lots of chicken and kebabs. All eight of the people booked on the March trip have paid £150 deposit towards the £1,784 total cost of the holiday: the threat of war doesn’t seem to have put them off.

Clients are warned, however, that "this is not the country for you if you cannot accept a degree of uncertainty". The Foreign Office advises against all travel to Iraq.

Report filed: 18/01/2003

and a related article from the Telgraph:

British tourists urged to visit Iraq
By Rosemary Behan

The first British guidebook to Iraq is to be published this week – despite the threat of an attack on the country by the United States and Britain and warnings from the Foreign Office that travellers should stay away.

Hilary Bradt, the publisher, said: "With the British Government almost casually declaring its intention to launch an attack on Iraq, I want ordinary people to see the other side: to learn what will be destroyed in both human and archaeological terms in such a war."

Despite never having been to Iraq, Ms Bradt said that, from talking to the author and the guidebook’s contributors, she did not think British tourists would be in any danger. "I feel confident that there is going to be no violence against tourists by Iraqis. The reason I published this guide was to inform people so they knew what was behind the war zones and could see the face of the people."

Her company, Bradt Travel Guides, which is based in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, commissioned Karen Dabrowska, a journalist from New Zealand living in London, to write the 300-page guide.

Geoff Hann, founder and director of the adventure operators Hann Overland and Hinterland Travel, the only British companies to take tourists to Iraq, provided practical information to help prospective travellers through the "often complex, frequently maddening but ultimately hugely rewarding experience of visiting Iraq".

Mr Hann, who is in Iraq with a group of British tourists at the moment, takes several groups of 10 to 15 people there each year. Although individual travel visas for Iraq are rarely issued, group visas are available. The FO’s travel advisory note states: "British nationals should not attempt to visit Iraq", so Mr Hann has had to arrange insurance with a German insurance company.

The Foreign Office has been advising against travel to Iraq since the Gulf War in 1991, because it has no diplomatic representation there and cannot assist travellers if they get into difficulty. Instead, British nationals are represented at the Russian Federation in Baghdad. However, a spokeswoman for the FO said she had not heard of British travellers experiencing problems in Iraq.

The guidebook provides descriptions of archaeological and architectural sites, including Baghdad’s palaces, mosques, markets and historical sites, Kurdish culture and society, accommodation, eating, drinking and the much-lauded Iraqi hospitality. It argues that Iraq boasts "some of the world’s richest ancient history", the site of Nebuchadnezzar’s Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the mythical Tower of Babel.

Iraq: The Bradt Travel Guide costs £13.95
Report filed: 27/04/2002