Popular Tourism: good services – cheap prices

The Syrian government in general and the Ministry of Tourism in particular has detailed a clear strategy to carry out new projects and investments that would contribute in enhancing the popular tourism and open shores for middle-class  and working – class families.

 General Director of Syrian Transport and Tourism Company Dr. Fayz Mansour

Director General of the Syrian Transport and Tourism Company Dr. Fayz Mansour said that the Ministry of Tourism asked the Company to prepare a plan to develop public tourism for the working-class families to spend their summer vacations in good resorts with cheap prices. The Ministry also asked to improve the transportation services by increasing the number of buses that transport the passengers to different Syrian cities.

 “The Syrian Transport and Tourism Company runs good high-quality services tourist resorts; the Blue Bay in Tartous City, a motel in Draykish and La Plage in northern Latakia. These resorts offer high quality services pertaining to  rooms, restaurants, clean seashores and swimming pools in addition to good views,” Dr. Fayz Mansour said to Syria Times during a meeting in the Blue Bay Resort in Tartous.

   “The Company is working on a new project in Tartous which is the ‘Camp site and Chalets of Al-Karnak’ which is scheduled to open in early July,” Dr. Fayz Mansour said.

Engineer Nizar Ghanim, who is the Director of Blue Bay Resort, and the Director of the ‘Camp site and Chalets of Al-Karnak’ project said that the new project is built over 24.000 m2 land which is owned by the Council of Tartous City (Municipality) in cooperation with the  Syrian Transport and Tourism Company. The contract is  for 10 years.

 Eng. Nizar Ghanim said that the under-construction project includes 19 wooden huts , in the first phase, and later will reach 40 wooden huts, a kitchen, restaurant, a cafeteria, laundry and administration office in addition to small rooms, bathrooms and showers for swimmers who can come for few hours to spend time on the seashore and swim for low fees.

“These wooden huts are made in accordance with international criteria and from good treated wood and metal structures. They will be equipped with good furniture, freezers, beds and bathrooms,” Eng. Nizar Ghanim said to Syria Times during a tour in the under- construction project. 

 A constructor in the project said that builders and workers are working under hard conditions for long hours in hot Summer days. Even trucks find it hard to work in sands to finish the works as soon as possible.

He said that the wood is imported with high quality to face the coastal weather, rainfalls and high humidity which strongly affect wood and metal materials.

  The Head of Economic Office of Tourism Worker Union, Nizar Nadaf said that the tourism industry and sector is improving in the Syrian coast in general and Tartous in particular.

“The Ministry of Tourism is doing good work to establish new resorts for working -class families and open shores for people who want to spend few hours swimming and sitting next seashore,” Nizar Nadaf said to Syria Times.

“The private sector is also exerting great efforts to develop the tourism industry. It launched new projects while other projects are underway in the governorate of Tartous such as Holiday Beach, Porto Tartous, Ugarit Project, and Shahin Group,” Nizar Nadaf who is also the Director of Poseidon Restaurant in Cornish of Tartous City.

Nizar Nadaf added that these resorts offer high quality services with suitable prices for middle class and tourists coming from Lebanon, Iraq, Gulf States and Syrian expatriates who come from Europe and America to spend their vacations in their homeland, Syria.

Upon leaving the Poseidon, a surprise awaited me, George Saegh, a Syrian artist was sketching  with a cigarette stub on dusty car windows and hoods.   

When chatting with him, he said that he had been sketching on cars for long time. It is a hoppy of his. He also said that he has a page on Facebook where he shows his sketches.

Written by: Obaida Hamad / Inas Abdulkareem

 Photos by: Obaida Hamad