Iraq to Privatize Tourist Facilities

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The government on Monday abolished the state tourism directorate and said major hotels, restaurants and other facilities will be sold off or leased to the private sector.

A decree by the ruling Revolution Command Council said the state-run assets to be privatized include seven major hotels in Baghdad, the war-battered southern port city of Basra and the northern city of Mosul, including two Sheratons.

The Basra Sheraton was damaged by shell and rocket fire during a major Iranian offensive against Basra in early 1987, in which some of the heaviest fighting in the nearly 8-year-old Persian Gulf war took place.

Monday’s announcement came as Iranian and Iraqi leaders prepared to meet in Geneva on Aug. 25 for peace talks under United Nations auspices.

The Iraqi move to sell off its tourist facilities is part of President Saddam Hussein’s drive to develop his socialist-run country’s private sector by selling off state-owned assets to stimulate the economy, badly battered by the war with neighboring Iran.

No statistics were immediately available, but tourism to Iraq, rich in archeological sites dating at least 6,000 years, has been badly affected by the conflict.

The hotels will still be run by their parent chains in accordance with an agreement signed with the Iraqi government, officials said.

But managers at the hotels said they did not yet know if the facilities would be sold to Iraq’s private sector or be handed over to their parent companies.

According to the government decision, taken Aug. 2 but announced only Monday, those hotels that will not be sold will be leased for 25 years to private companies.