Below is an article published by The National;

Sherko Pasha has spent 30 years designing iconic buildings from his office in Abu Dhabi. Now he has just finished work on the biggest hotel project in Iraq’s Kurdish region. He is one of a growing number from the Kurdish diaspora returning home to help establish a tourism industry.

“Since I am a Kurd and from that region, I had the support of many people there. Having a base in the UAE – both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai – helped me a lot in expanding my business in the motherland,” said the man behind the design of Abu Dhabi University, situated on the motorway between Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

Tourism is still developing in the Kurdish region, as most foreign visitors shy away because of its association with Iraq. But the region’s government has worked hard with its public relations campaign, “Kurdistan: the other Iraq”, in a bid to change public perception.

The head of the general board of tourism said the entity receives applications for as many as 120 new hotels per year. While the vast majority of these are three to four-star lodgings, luxury hotel chains such as Kempinski, Hilton and Rotana have launched operations in this booming region.

“That’s roughly one new hotel every three days,” said Mawlawi Jabar Wahab, the head of the general board of tourism in the capital, Erbil. “We want to be the crossroad between Dubai and Istanbul, to offer a combination of Turkey’s history and Dubai’s modernism and business climate.”

Mr Pasha’s firm, Arkonsult Engineering, designed the US$260 million Grand Millennium, which opened last week, located in the heart of Sulaymaniyah – about 200 kilometres from Erbil.

The Grand Millennium’s ultra-modern building is owned by Faruk Holding, a diversified company involved in cement insurance, construction and information technology. It is owned by the billionaire Faruk Mustafa Rasool, who recently floated the Iraqi mobile operator Asiacell for $720m.

“They were looking for a landmark iconic project,” Mr Pasha said. “The theme is based as a tower with a revolving restaurant at the top, with all the other main facilities found in a five-star hotel in the lower floors. The location is an added plus because the site is on a hill – about 40 metres high – in the middle of the city.”

The General Board of Tourism launched a $120m state bank to support small and medium businesses to develop the Kurdish region’s tourism sector. About $20m has been spent so far towards tourism projects by Kurdish local citizenry.

The region’s historic sites and mountainous landscape are ideal for history devotees and adventure tourism. Erbil’s citadel, which has been marked as a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the world. Tour operators often take visitors to Gaugamela, about two hours away from the capital, where Alexander the Great fought Darius III of Persia in one of history’s most important battles.

Farther south close to the border of Mosul is Mar Mattai Syriac Orthodox monastery, which perches about 500 metres above sea level and is carved into the side of a giant mountain. The building itself dates back to the fourth century AD. Not too far away is Korek Mountain, where the local firm Darin Group has built the first the country’s ever ski resort.

Income from tourism stood at about $250m last year, accounting for 8 per cent of GDP. The region’s strategic plans aim for diversification of the region’s oil economy, and for tourism income to reach $2.5 billion by 2025.

The Kurdish region has been at odds with Iraq’s central government over production agreement contracts. Erbil grants companies production-sharing agreements in which companies can take a share of the output. In contrast, Baghdad uses a service-contract model that pays foreign partners a per-barrel fee, which many executives say is not high enough to compensate for the risk involved.

“In my opinion, I wish there was no oil in Kurdistan or Iraq,” Mr Wahab said. “It is a curse. Have you smelled black crude? It’s disgusting.”

Photo of a museum in Erbil © Martijn Munneke