About VisitBasra

VisitBasra is the independent English and Arabic guide to Basra, Iraq. We cover the practical layer of travel — the airport, hotels, transport, money, and the Mesopotamian Marshes — for business travelers, visitors, and Arabic-speaking readers across Iraq and the Gulf.

The site is published by VisitBasra editorial. The publisher and responsible owner is Marv Shamma.

Our methodology — honest about automation

VisitBasra runs on an automated editorial system, and we believe you deserve to know exactly how it works:

• Data is refreshed automatically. Exchange rates, weather, prayer times and official travel advisory levels are fetched daily from named sources (Open-Meteo, Aladhan, UK FCDO, US State Department and others). Every widget shows the fetch date and links its source.
• Articles are drafted with the help of AI tools against strict, human-written editorial rules, and every article must pass an automated compliance review before it can publish. Anything that fails is held back — never published silently.
• Specific facts require sources. Prices, schedules, opening hours and visa conditions appear only when we can attribute them to a source listed at the end of the page. When we cannot verify a specific, we say “check with the operator or official site” instead of guessing.
• We never make safety judgments. Official advisory levels from the UK FCDO and the US State Department are quoted verbatim in a dedicated widget, with links to the full advisories. We add no commentary of our own.
• Every page is dated. Each article shows when it was last updated and lists its sources.

Independence

VisitBasra is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any government body, tourism authority, or airline. We currently earn revenue from advertising; ads are always distinguishable from editorial content and never appear inside the advisory widget. Any future partner or affiliate links will be clearly marked.

Corrections

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Please tell us via the contact page — corrections are reviewed and applied to both the English and Arabic versions of a page.