Syria’s Tourism Professionals Speak Out
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Eturbo News: Syria is an emerging market that is making strides to become a serious player in the industry. Syrian tourism professionals speak about the country’s current state of tourism.
Le Meridien Damascus’ acting general manager Hazem Sebai said things couldn’t be better. “All hotels are doing a lot better. Business is booming especially this current season with increased numbers coming from meetings, incentives, conferences (MICE) niche markets, the corporate and leisure groups – most of whom come from Jordan, the GCC countries topped by Saudi Arabia, and Europe including Spain, Germany, Italy, France and the UK.â€
According to him, this is definitely not the tail-end of the influx that made exodus to the Syrian Republic during the first days of the Lebanese incursion. Sebai said the evacuees did not stay long as regular tourists do. “Most who came last year left after taking a night of refuge in Syria,†he said.
Last year, waves of evacuees, mostly Gulf nationals and scores of Lebanese (citizens and dual passport-holders US/ EU citizens), fled to Syria in haste. A great number of Gulf Arabs came on transit for a day or two before returning home. Former CIS citizens also poured in. At the time of the war between Israel and Lebanon, some 300,000 evacuees fled through the Beirut-Damascus route. In total, about 700,000 Lebanese were displaced.
“Flights operating 24/7 were taking-off and landing every one and a half minutes then. People left immediately,†said Sebai who explained price-gouging in hotels and all lodging during the time did not take place, except perhaps for some unscrupulous operators the government did not catch red-handed.
Syria hotel trade, according to the HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte, saw numbers, particularly in the capital city of Damascus fell slightly lower. Occupancies in 2006 registered only 51.5 percent, down by 7.1 percent from 55.4 percent in 2005.
After the war and immediately after the ceasefire took place, Arab visitors quickly came back said Syrian Tourism Minister Dr. Saad Allah Agha Al Qalaa. “We had 3.2 million tourists who arrived last year, of course minus the Iraqi (1 million) and Lebanese (200,000) traffic in the 2 months of the war. But in October last year, we received 70 percent more Arabs arriving compared to 2005. The actual boom comes from Europe with reservations coming to a peak,†he said.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), there is some good news for Syria. In the recently released World Tourism Barometer (January 2007), Syria experienced in 2006 a 1.8 percent increase in tourist arrivals over 2005 whose total was 3.368 million tourists. For the first three quarters, Syria grew by +2 percent from 2005 growth rate despite the crisis in the Levant.
Looking forward, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) forecasts Syria’s 2007 travel demand will reach $4,759 million with a 7.2 percent increase over 2006 and 3.2 increase of visitor exports over last year.
Nashaa’t Sanadiki, president of the Syrian Federation of Tourism Chambers which is the umbrella organization of the Syrian Hotel Association, Travel Agents Association, Chamber of Tourist Establishments and Chamber of Tourism Supplies/ Commodities said that today tourism investments in Syria are the best in the Middle East. “With my 45 years of experience, I believe our tourism is still in its infancy. Our country has a diverse tourist product from cultural, religious, water sports, skiing, desert, archaeological – but we have not invested much to explore the many potentials of tourism. Tourism remained a virgin industry until four to five years ago when the tourism ministry has designed a strategic plan to cultivate all niches.â€
There are Christian Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim tourist spots and numerous shrines waiting to be developed and be supported with infrastructure such as roads, visitors center, kiosks, bus routes, museums, let alone hotels. “We have registered 3300 tourist sites and about 160 heritage sites. This becomes a viable investment proposition,†said Sanadiki.
One of Syria’s big tourist draw is the popular Silk Road Festival. Through this event, Syria draws on the multi-cultural and civilization role it used to play since the dawn of humanity. The great caravan routes of antiquity spanned Asia like a giant bridge during the classical ages or Greco-Roman times – defining much of human geography of the region caravans crossed for thousands of years.
Syria, being at the western tip of this bridge, was better prepared than most other routes that crossed it between the Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean Sea. Damascus, Aleppo and the great desert city of Palmyra were the key points on the Silk Road route.
Silk Road Travel & Tourism president Aref Hanano, who operates the ancient route in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, said this package is popular. “The draw of antiquity souks and the khans (Caravan Serai) is increasing esp. with the Japanese (60 percent of the time) and the rest with European, North America and Latin America visitors. The sea Silk Road seems to be the Japanese main interest in the itinerary. Ships came from Japan to the Arabian Gulf countries and down south to the Cape of Good Hope before sailing back to the Mediterranean,†he said.
Tourism manager Khaldoun Al Fayoumi, however, reveals that since the Silk Road Festival is only three years old, their agency do not count on it for business for the most part of the year. It is best to complement it with other classical tours to capture all markets.
Minister Al Qalaa does not appear truly keen on luring the US market over to Syria. He’d rather focus on Europe if possible. “Around 30,000 to 35,000 already come from the US annually. Obviously, we need to attract more. However, we are focusing our efforts in luring the European market. It’s simpler to operate within this market considering the shorter travel distance and long history of cooperation in the segment,†he said.
Sanadiki said his country would like to have peace, so that tourism can start flourishing in the country. “However, there are elements coming into the equation, preventing us to have peace and develop our tourism sector. All this will just push us back another hundred years which we will not allow to happen with our determination.â€
It is hard to view tourism coming from the US while the tension is mounting. Former South Dakota Senator James Abourezk has met with Syrian President Bashar Asad several times. He said last week, “Because President Bush has damaged relations with Syria so badly, any positive contact between US government officials and the Syrian government should be welcome and could prevent a wider war.â€
Abourezk added: “In one of my visits with Asad, he noted that Syria helped thwart a plot by Al-Qaeda against the US in Bahrain. This saved US lives but the Bush administration never acknowledged this. Instead, they've bad-mouthed Syria so much, they undermine such cooperation and threaten SS lives. The US ambassador [to Syria] told me that Asad had stopped more than one Al-Qaeda operation by warning the United States. And now he's stopped cooperation because of all antagonistic attitude."
One this is clear, however, Syria’s tourism industry is well on its way to becoming a formidable player in global tourism |
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