Tourism Ministry Achieved Positive Indicators in 2019

The Syrian tourism sector suffered significant damage during the terrorist war on Syria. However the Ministry of Tourism had a very clear plan and exerted relentless  efforts to  revive the tourism sector.

In parallel with the return of security  and stability to many regions across Syrian  provinces,  the  tourism sector in Syria   achieved  positive indicators in 2019,  which was reflected  in the number of Arab and foreign visitors  and  hotel lodgers .

According to figures for the year 2019 released by  the Ministry of Tourism ,  the volume of    work  achieved at  hotels owned by the Ministry amounted to  SYP  8.8 billion with  an increase of 17 % in comparison with the year  2018.

The number of Arab and foreign visitors  in 2019, according to the ministry, reached about 2.4 million with  an increase of 31 percent in comparison   with  2018, while  the number of hotel lodgers  reached 1.5 million.

As for the  number of the tourism facilities , which  were put into service in 2019, those  reached  around 2. 200 facilities  of various levels  distributed in  a number of  governorates.  The ministry said that it had issued 16 licenses  for establishing  hotels and 107 licenses for establishing travel and tourism companies.

The number of projects possessed  by public bodies  which  were proposed  at  the Tourism Investment Forum reached 41 projects, with  a total cost of  SYP 400 billion  and  they provide  7,000 new job opportunities.

Concerning   tourism activities, the ministry indicated that it organized 56  tourism events during  2019  ,  supervised dozens of tourism activities and participated in the international tourism trade fair  Fitur  2019  in Spain  in order to promote Syria’s tourism  and historical potentials  in a way that  would contribute  to  reactivate tourism movement in Syria.

The ministry also participated in the  Arabian Travel Market  2019 in Dubai with  a number of private sector companies and hotels and a number of travel and tourism offices.

With regard to tourism education and training, the number of students at tourism and hotel institutes reached 1500 students with 2500 students in tourism and hotel schools.

The Ministry also carried out 72 specialized training courses in the  field of tourism  and hotel management in addition to organizing  48 specialized  training courses under the supervision of the General  Commission for Tourism and Hotel Training.

 Rawaa Ghanam