Three brave souls sign up for GBP1,400 trip to war-affected destination
Three UK tourists have reportedly signed up for a tour of Iraq next month, on an organised trip that promises travellers they will see “what has happened to the country”.
According to a report in today’s Daily Express, Hinterland Travel is organising a two-week trip costing GBP1,400 – despite ongoing looting, violence and general instability in much of the country. Hinterland, which has run trips to Iraq since the Seventies but did not visit the country between 1990 and 1999, will employ armed guards to look after its three customers.
The firm’s managing director Geoff Hann told the newspaper: “The best hotels have been taken over by the military or have been damaged in the war. The idea of the trip is to see what has happened to the country as well as to visit the ancient sites.”
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, unsurprisingly, is still advising against visiting the country. A spokeswoman told the Express: “Anyone organising a trip or planning to go should not do so.”
