5 Places That Went From Packed to Empty After Coronavirus

4. Erbil, Iraq — A Market Without Its Shoppers

The change wasn’t limited to the world’s most famous tourist destinations. In Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, normally busy markets and streets became remarkably quiet during the pandemic. The effect was especially noticeable around the Erbil Citadel and its surrounding markets. In April 2020, local reporting described streets that would normally be crowded with shoppers preparing for Ramadan as almost completely empty because of restrictions introduced to combat COVID-19. The image is particularly powerful because these aren’t purpose-built tourist attractions that simply closed their doors. They were ordinary parts of daily life — suddenly without the people who normally made them busy.