Homs Is Witnessing A Gradual Improvement in Tourism Sector

With the growth of various tourism activities and the return of about 70 percent of tourist facilities to service throughout the province of Homs, the number of tourists has increased by 47 percent compared to last year, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Tourism.

 Homs Tourism Director, Eng. Ahmad Akash talked about the various tourism potentials of Homs, such as ecological, religious, cultural and social tourism, as well as the presence of many important archaeological sites such as Palmyra, Al-Hosn Castle, the monasteries and archaeological churches, including the Church of Um Al-Zanar.

Tourism Reality

Akash pointed out that the tourist reality in Homs this year is better than the previous years with the recovery of the city from the effects of the terrorist war and the return of safety to all areas thanks to the sacrifices of the Syrian Arab Army, stressing that according to statistics of the Ministry of Tourism that the number of tourists coming to Homs has exceeded 47% Compared to last year and the number of hotel guests increased to 294,000 by the end of September 2019 scoring an increase of 63 percent over last year.

According to the director of tourism, about 70 % of the damaged tourist facilities in Homs have returned to service, pointing out that 116 facilities are actually in service today, including 19 hotels and 97 restaurants, pointing out that there are still 31 damaged facilities in the city of Palmyra, hoping that  these facilities will be rehabilitated very soon.

Akash said that these establishments contributed to the growth of tourism in the province, pointing out that the number of hotels in the  city and the countryside  does not exceed 17, which makes the need urgent to build more hotels , especially that the province enjoys distinctive tourism, natural and archaeological features .

Tourism Activities

Talking about tourism activities in Homs, Akash showed that the Directorate has intensified its activities this year through  holding many festivals and carnivals, carrying out tourism rehabilitation courses in addition to a number of  tourist festivals in new areas such as Dahr Al-Qusair and the Eastern Region and to expand the festival of Rablah to include Qusair in conjunction with the rehabilitation of the existing tourist facilities.

Tourist Reality of Palmyra

With regard to Palmyra’s tourist reality, Akash pointed out that the number of the completely damaged facilities is 18 tourist establishments and 13 restaurants of various levels, stressing that preparations are underway to participate in the next tourism investment forum to rehabilitate  seven hotels in Palmyra through partnership between investors and owners of these facilities , pointing

out that the number of tourists visiting  Palmyra is doubling  thanks to the peace and security the city has enjoyed after defeating terrorism from its territory. 

Amal Farhat- Homs