For the usual traveler, When you think of IRAQ, You think about wars, guns, and danger, but explaining what the real image is by an Iraqi will let you know the country’s actual situation in 2023 that you won’t see on the news.

IRAQ went through a lot from the Iraq – Iran war during the last decade to the Gulf War, the American invasion, and the civil war which extended to the ISIS war ended with defeating ISIS and liberation of the cities by the IRAQI army in cooperation with coalition forces and starting from this point the good things started to happen.

All of these complicated circumstances with the media coverage that extended for all these years created a stereotypical perspective of a devastating country.

It will take years to change this image and liberation was the changing point for the country. Iraq opened up for tourists by Visa on arrival after 40 years of being an uneasy country to reach and explore.

In March 2021, Pope Francis went to Iraq, proving image that Iraq wasn’t as horrible as the media pretends it is. visiting regions once held by ISIS, helped in proving that Iraq is safe now.

Before the Pope’s visit, Traveling to Iraq with a pre-visa had always been extremely difficult, and expensive, so easing and liberalizing their visa regime while encouraging travelers to go to Iraq only meant the improving pf security situation.

Declaring the presentation of a visa-on-arrival regime, available for up to 38 nationalities, including all EU passport holders, the USA, Canada, the UK, and a couple more by the Iraqi government right after the pop visit was the best move from a tourist perspective. Since 2021 till this moment it has never been a better time to explore Iraq cause of the stable situation in security status. I would encourage travelers to explore the real kindness of the people here which wasn’t polluted like the usual tourist areas & you will encounter generosity that’s hard to see anywhere else. Local Iraqis are particularly v hospitable which is something known about.