Syria Today | The New Road to Damascus

The New Road to Damascus

Words Waseem Abdo

Syria is quickly becoming the new ‘it’ travel destination. London’s Independent newspaper, America’s The Los Angeles Times and Australia’s The Sydney Morning Herald, among others, all included Syria as a “must see” travel destination in 2009. Vogue magazine recently wrapped up a fashion shoot in Damascus. Travel website Responsible Travel has noted a surge in requests for information about visiting Syria over the past 12 months. UK travel group Kuoni became the first international package tour operator to add Syria to its list of travel destinations last year and completed its first nine-day / eight-night tour of the country in January. Clearly, Syria is on the international tourism map.

Tourism numbers were up by 15 percent last year, with 3.5m visitors entering the country in 2008, figures from the Ministry of Tourism show. This compares to a global tourism growth rate of just 2 percent and a Middle East growth rate of 5 percent, according to data from the World Tourism Organisation.

Investment in tourism projects is also increasing. Tax exemptions and simplified procedures are among many incentives the government is offering tourism investors. As a result, the value of tourist investments hit SYP 407bn (USD 8.67bn) last year, up 17.4 percent from 2007.

The rise in interest in Syria as a holiday destination follows greater government efforts to promote tourism and tourism investment over the past eight years. Annual spending on marketing Syria abroad has increased by 250 percent in recent years, from SYP 80m (USD 1.7m) in 2006 to some SYP 280m (USD 6m) last year. The increase in funding has enabled the Syrian Ministry of Tourism to launch promotional campaigns in 16 targeted countries and double its participation in international tourism fairs.

All of which is seeing tourism emerge as a key pillar in a post-oil economy. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the contribution of travel and tourism to Syria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to rise from 14.5 percent (SYP 290.9bn or USD 4.8bn) in 2008 to 16.8 percent (SYP 674bn or USD 9.6bn) by 2018. The industry’s contribution to employment is expected to rise from 1.13m jobs in 2008 (15.2 percent of total employment or 1 in every 6.6 jobs) to 1.95m jobs (17.9 percent of total employment or 1 in every 5.6 jobs) by 2018.

Number of Tourists (excluding immigrants and expatriates)

Arab visitors dominate
Arab tourists continue to dominate the country’s visitor profile, making up the bulk of all visitors last year. Most of the key investments underway in the country are also designed to suit the leisure activities favoured by tourists from the oil-rich Gulf States: huge shopping malls, modern five-star hotels and opulent seaside facilities. Given Arab tourists are more resilient travellers than their European counterparts, not put off by news reports of conflict in the region, they will remain the key target audience for Syria’s tourism planners.

“Arab tourists constitute a strategic asset for our tourism industry, especially in case the number of foreign tourists goes down due to any regional instability,” Bassam Barsik, director of marketing at the Ministry of Tourism, said.

The government is, however, working to diversify its visitor profile. Barsik said eight of the 13 promotional campaigns planned for this year will target European capital cities. Similar campaigns have led to a rise in the number of European tourists of more than 28 percent between 2007 and 2008. At the same time, the ministry is unveiling programmes to develop cultural, heritage and ecotourism in Syria, areas that particularly attract Western visitors.

“Although Europeans count for a mere 15 percent of Syria’s tourists, they are still a main target for us,” Barsik said.

Tourism expert Nashaat Sanadiki said Syria should be targeting tourist markets based on seasonality in order to keep the flow of visitors constant all year round.

“I don’t think the government is focusing on a market at the expense of another, rather it’s moving according to its priorities and capacity,” he said. “However, keeping tourism activated year round requires the government to work on all fronts.”

Muhammad Rami Martini, chairman of the Federation of Syria’s Chambers of Tourism, said Syria needs to start focusing on emerging markets such as China and Russia which, in the long term, are set to become major contributors to the flow of global travellers.

“What we need is more cooperation and coordination between the government and the private sector to be able to attract and accommodate many more tourists from such countries,” he said.

More work needed
Although Syria’s tourism has experienced rapid growth over the past 10 years, the industry is still far from realising its full potential. The region’s political situation has long put off tourists from visiting the Middle East. Presently, however, the global financial crisis stands as the main concern to industry planners.

“We are studying ways of handling the possible effects of the global financial crisis on the Syrian tourism sector,” Barsik said. “We will try to benefit from the country’s competing strengths to alleviate its effects.”

Syria is not alone in the region in developing its tourism industry. Both Egypt and Turkey have launched new global branding campaigns in recent years. How that plays out in Syria remains to be seen: potentially it may draw visitors away from Syria, conversely regional visitors may decide to add Syria to their itinerary.

Summing up the needs of the industry, Martini said the public and private sectors needed to form a better working relationship. He echoed common complaints from the private sector, saying procedures for licencing tourism projects, as well as taxes levied on tourism facilities and projects, should be unified and organised.

“A partnership between the public and private sectors is urgently needed to upgrade tourism and achieve the position Syria deserves on the global tourism map,” Martini said. One of the main problems we suffer from is the lack of qualified staff to fill jobs created by the industry.”

Hotel capacity remains a key issue. Numerous projects are presently under construction, but it will be some time before they are completed. “Once the projects under construction are finished and underdeveloped areas are upgraded, we will be able to work more on marketing and triple the number of tourists we are receiving,” Barsik said.

The country is moving to address problems in the tourism sector. “We know our tourism industry is not perfect,” Sanadiki said. “But today, the government is accepting criticism and acting immediately to correct any mistakes. This is very new for the tourism sector.”