The number of tourists arriving from Iraq's Kurdistan region in Iran and Iranian tourists in the Iraqi autonomous region has doubled in the last few years, an Iranian diplomat announced on Tuesday.

Iran's Consular-General in the Northern Iraqi city ofErbil Azim Hosseinisaid his office issued 300,000 entry visas for Kurdish tourists last year, while an equal number of visas were issued for the Iranian tourists.


"The figures show that the number of tourist visits between the two sides doubled compared with previous years, which indicates that the friendly relations between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Islamic Republic of Iran have further consolidated," Hosseini said.


In March,Iranand the Iraqi Kurdistan region launched direct flights betweenIran's Western city ofOrumiyehandIraq's Northern city ofErbil.


Direct flights between Orumiyeh andIraq's Northern city ofErbilare available after the airline between the two cities was launched on Sunday with the presence of a number of Iranian and Iraqi officials.



Soran Ali