How do we bring visitors to our ancient sites?
The southern sites are among the oldest cities on earth, yet history alone does not bring visitors. They come when they can find the way, get basic services and live an experience worth retelling. Here is a plain summary of UNESCO guidance and nearby examples, with clear sources.
Simplified from UNESCO’s sustainable tourism toolkit for World Heritage sites.
Who visits, when, for how long and looking for what? A good plan starts from numbers, not guesses.
UNESCO guide 1Realistic goals for one year and five years, starting with the basics: access, services and protection.
UNESCO guide 2One team bringing antiquities, tourism, the province and local people to the same table.
UNESCO guide 3Local guides, guesthouses and crafts. When locals benefit, they become the site’s first guardians.
UNESCO guide 4Signs in Arabic and English, maps, QR codes and trained guides. Visitors want to understand what they see.
UNESCO guide 5A safe road, parking, shade, water, clean toilets and a welcome centre placed far enough not to harm the site.
UNESCO guide 6A mashoof boat ride, sunset at the ziggurat, a festival, a night in a mudhif. The experience is what visitors retell.
UNESCO guide 7Entry fees spent on the site, partnerships and small local businesses.
UNESCO guide 9Count visitors, their satisfaction and the site’s condition regularly. Protecting the site comes first.
UNESCO guide 10
As restoration of the Temple of Ninmakh and the walls near the Ishtar Gate progressed, Babylon received 43,530 Iraqi and 5,370 foreign visitors in 2024, up from 36,957 and 4,109 in 2023, according to Babylon’s antiquities inspector.
Lesson: caring for the site attracts local visitors first, and they are the start.
Source: The Art Newspaper, 12/9/2025
The Ahwar became World Heritage in 2016 together with Ur, Uruk and Eridu. Dhi Qar’s tourism chief said tourists rose from 10,000 in 2016 to 12,000 in 2017 and 18,000 in 2018, while there were no visitor centres or hotels at the time.
Lesson: people are coming; services are the missing link.
Source: UNESCO 1481 · Arab News / AFP, 2019
Iraq received about 107,000 tourists in 2021, more than three times the 2020 figure (30,000, the pandemic year), according to Tourism Authority data.
Lesson: a positive image brings visitors, so let us be ready with information and services.
Source: AFP / Gulf News, 2022An ancient stone site that set a record of about 850,000 visitors in 2022; its visitor centre, roads and parking are being expanded.
Lesson: one well-prepared site can put its city on the world tourism map.
Source: Daily Sabah · Hürriyet Daily NewsOne official platform gives visitors everything: how to get there, visitor centres, tours and an events calendar, in Arabic and English.
Lesson: visitor information must be easy and in one place.
Source: Experience AlUla
Capital of the Third Dynasty of Ur, with one of the best-preserved ziggurats in the world.
about 5000–300 BCE
Inscribed by UNESCO together with Ur, Uruk and Eridu; its people still live by reed and water.
from thousands of years ago to today🏺 Sumer passportAtlas of Sumer
A general introduction based on published sources; figures are as reported by their sources at the time.
