Tourism Investment Forum, Promising Opportunities and Projects

The Tourism Investment Forum 2022 constituted an opportunity to attract quality businessmen, project owners and investors as they reviewed a number of projects and investment opportunities in a number of governorates in detail, according to the director of studies and investment map at the Syrian Investment Authority, Nada Laiqa.

Laiqa pointed out that the forum, which concluded its activities yesterday, succeeded in achieving its goal, in terms of promoting Investment Law No. 18 of 2021 and introducing its features to facilitate and encourage investment, especially in the tourism field, introducing a number of projects and discussing the mechanism for supporting and developing this sector.

Laiqa indicated that during the days of the forum, a group of ready-made investment opportunities were presented, such as tourist complexes, hotels, and accommodation facilities of the first and second classes, and the necessary approvals were taken, noting that any investor can submit an application to the authority and the application is being studied in cooperation with the ministry of tourism and the concerned authorities to secure all the necessary procedures to grant an investment license.

Laiqa indicated that the investment license means that the investor obtains approvals to start implementing his project and determine the costs and the number of workers, through coordination with public authorities, while the assistant director of the Investor Services Center in the Single Window (Nama Al-Hayek) indicated that the investment law granted investors advantages, including tax and customs exemptions, stressing the importance of the forum to support tourism investment, as it provides those wishing to invest through a single window all services in the least possible time and effort.

The new investment law, which was issued in May last year, aims to create a competitive investment environment to attract capital, benefit from various expertise and specializations, expand the production base, increase job opportunities and raise economic growth rates, which will reflect positively on the increase in national income, leading to comprehensive and sustainable development.

For her part, the head of the tourism sector at the Investment Authority, Eng. Yaman Maarouf, stated that there are 25 ready-made investment opportunities and 23 promotional opportunities that the investor can apply to be ready for investment later.

According to Maarouf, there are a number of projects ready to proceed, classified under the category of popular tourism, in addition to 23 private projects, including partially implemented projects amounting to 50 percent, but work has stopped due to some difficulties.

The activities of the Tourism Investment Forum 2022, organized by the Ministry of Tourism in cooperation with the Syrian Investment Authority, were launched on the 16th of this month, with the participation of a number of companies, businessmen and Arab and foreign investors, at the Dama Roz Hotel in Damascus.

NR