The Syrian Youth Tourism Forum calls for the promotion of tourism and traditional craft products through various means

Damascus (ST): Participants in the Syrian Youth Tourism Forum 2023, which was organized by the Ministry of Tourism and the Authority for Excellence and Creativity over a period of eight days, recommended the need to internally and externally promote tourism in Syria and traditional craft products and support them through vocational schools to ensure their continuity and development.

During the closing session, which was held at the Damascus Sheraton Hotel, the participants called for launching a special application to organize the volunteering process, provided that the volunteer campaigns be specific to raising awareness about archaeological and historical sites, and linking them to the recycling process that contributes to preserving the environment.

The participants stressed the necessity of working to establish a national company specializing in investing in the products of traditional craft markets and marketing them in an optimal way and working to develop marketing plans and public relations plans for tourism in Syria by the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Tourism using various marketing tools and various media, especially social networking sites.

The participants also called for amending licensing standards for tourist facilities to use alternative energy sources, adopting plans to reduce energy waste, investing excess food in the fermentation process to produce household gas or as organic fertilizer, and importing consumables from the tourist facility’s incubating environment.

The participants underlined the importance of using modern technical methods to describe and explain archaeological objects and sites to help document and describe them in an optimal manner, as well as the interest in scientific tourism by the concerned authorities.

In turn, the Minister of Information, Dr. Boutros Al-Hallaq, pointed out that using social media incorrectly harms public opinion formed by the media, and on the contrary, using it correctly is considered the greatest support for the media that carries an institutional message, while influencers through social media are an individual activity and have pros and cons. Through it, conscious youth can transform negative challenges into marketing or educational opportunities, some of which will benefit institutions.

Minister Al-Hallaq referred to the need for school curricula to include communication skills so that the young generation can express and communicate their ideas and knowledge easily and clearly, in addition to constantly developing their skills.

In statements to news correspondent, the Minister of Education, Dr. Muhammad Amer Al-Mardini, underlined the importance of the ideas and proposals presented by the participants in the forum, especially the inclusion of some of the issues they raised in the curricula so that students can know the hidden treasures in their country at the tourism level.

K.Q.