Chapter 19: Developing Dark Tourism in Iraq: Its Economic Implications Aligned With SDG8

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, Goal No. 8, addresses decent work and economic growth as an influential goal among the 17 goals in Agenda 2030. Tourism is a vibrant sector, which creates various employment opportunities in many economies, particularly for less-diversified economies like Iraq.

This chapter explores the possibilities of developing dark tourism in Iraq, the challenges and opportunities ahead. Moreover, this chapter highlights the possibility of turning dark tourism into an economic means to support Iraq’s economic development for creating jobs, employment, and local development in geographical areas endowed with dark tourism. In fact, Iraq has many locations endowed with dark tourism, while only a few are moderately developed but not to regional or global standards.

Meanwhile, residents’ perceptions and empowerment are crucial in the journey of regional development to make the development myth based on tourism possible. This chapter follows a content analysis and an in-depth review of the existing facts and information associated with dark tourism and its relation to job creation, employment, and economic development broadly and for Iraq. This chapter is limited to the existing facts and information because the limited literature has created severe challenges for enriching the chapter, particularly regarding Iraq’s dark tourism and its contribution to the Iraqi economy in terms of employment opportunities.