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The opening of a new airport Sunday in the southern city of Najaf is expected to help boost the number of religious pilgrims, mostly Iranians, visiting Shiite shrines to 1 million this year, double the number that came in 2007.
Pilgrims are admittedly a special kind of visitor. "They do not consider any kind of danger or harassment. They have a religious ideology that considers any difficulty they face as a merit and mercy for their piety," said Abdul Zahra al-Talaqani, spokesman for Iraq's tourism ministry.
Baghdad is much calmer than it was just a year ago, but anybody, Iraqi or foreigner, who goes into the streets recognizes the potential for danger.
The loud boom of a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol was audible along the Tigris river Sunday morning. One civilian was killed.
Besides the threat to safety, tourists would face other problems, including a lack of infrastructure such as the rundown hotels and overstretched medical facilities.
But others definitely will and, in time, so will many from Western countries.
It's interesting. A whole slew of Iraqi professionals are coming to my place for training.
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