This article is a statement by the Ministry of Tourism in Syria and does not reflect the views of Hospitality-Portal.

The tourism indicators in the Middle East region proved that the tourism sector is one of the most affected sectors by the global & regional events over the last ten years. For this reason, the latest developments that affected some Arab countries early in 2011 changed all estimates of the tourism industry in the whole MENA region, and cast its heavy shadows on the spring of the Syrian tourism.

As for Syria, it is a unique & different situation with its internal structure and regional & international dimensions. Yet,what happens in Syria cannot be separated from what is happening in the region to divide Arab countries and end the Arab-Israeli conflict without restoring Arab rights.

The country has been facing terrorist acts made by some armed terrorist groups, who are alien elements of the Syrian identity, linked to foreign agendas that provide them with logistic support and media coverage to cause violence and undermine Syria’s stability as well as weakening its regional role as the prominent player towards the ME causes.

Accordingly, Syria managed to stand up to that aggressive & fabricated campaigns thanks to the national unity and the awareness of the Syrian people of the backgrounds of these instigation campaigns carried out by mass media to mislead public opinion in Syria and abroad, and to distort the real image of Syria.Furthermore, the Syrian people strongly reject the foreign interference led by the USA, Europe and the Arab League in the internal issues of Syria and they deeply believe that the national agenda should be realized by the Syrians themselves and they are also very confidence that Syria will get out of the crisis peacefully and restores its prosperity and development at all levels. For that reason, they are collaborating with the Syrian government to foil these campaigns to restore security & stability as the major strength of the Syrian identity.

In this concern, reference should be made to the rankings of Syria according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 by 2011 World Economic Forum which covered 142 countries: rank 1 in terms of business costs of crime and violence, rank 3 in terms of business costs of terrorism comparing to ranking 6 by the GCR 2010-2011, and rank 7 in terms of organized crime.In turn, the Syrian government under the Leadership of President Bashar Al Assad is very keen to confront challenges and overcome all obstacles with the aim to plan for a more stable future.

This was obvious through a clear & comprehensive reform process including issuing several decrees and laws at all levels, especially at the political level, all aiming to enhance democracy and political pluralism in the Syrian society where all Syrians can have a real involvement in building a bright future for their homeland. The decrees were on the Law of Parties authorizing multiparty system in Syria, the Law of Lifting the Emergency Status, the Law of Local Administration, the Law of General Elections, and the Law of New Media, the Law of New State Constitution…, just to name some, in addition to several laws in economic and social fields to improve the living conditions of the Syrian people.Moreover, the national dialogue forums are held all over the country with a broad participation of political, economic, academic, social, and independent & opposition figures to reach joint national formulas that enhance democracy and political pluralism and meet the aspirations of the different categories of the Syrian society. As a result of the government’s keen efforts into establishing security all over the Syrian cities, the daily life of the Syrian people returned as normal over the last few months, through enjoying their summertime with families and friends at the beaches, resorts, cafes & restaurants, students at schools were safely back to their studies as well .In its turn, the Ministry of Tourism with a true partnership with all relevant stakeholders including private and joint-venture sectors, tourism chambers, travel agencies & hotels, and other players in the tourism industry, has reviewed its existing marketing strategy through carrying out a new SWOT Analysis of the tourism sector, and started to prioritise its plans in light of the current situation to present the real image of Syria.On the top of its priorities, the MOT started to take serious steps to target new niche markets especially in East Asia, Far East, Latin America, East Europe, South Africa as well as Russia, China, Iran and India… as most marketing studies and efforts focused mainly on the European market.

In this regard, the Ministry is working hard to invite travel journalists, tour operators, VIP personalities from these markets to come to Syria, to uncover the real situation by themselves and pass on their impressions to their societies.As the composition of the tourism market to Syria has been changed during the crisis, the number of Arab arrivals got affected by the events in the region, while the number of Syrian expatriates and Islamic arrivals were more static, the Ministry is making keen efforts to consider best options to retain the Arab market and motivate the Syrian expatriates to visit their homeland as well as encouraging religious pilgrims, Muslims & Christian, to visit Syria as the cradle of both Islam and Christianity. Consequently, the Arab and neighbouring markets started to make a positive recovery over the last few months.

The Ministry also has adopted a package of measures with competitive programmes to encourage the domestic tourism to explore its real potential and contribution as a vital element of the Syrian tourism industry. This is coupled in parallel with projects aimed at improving the infrastructure relevant to improving religious, cultural, medical & coastal tourism.