Syria’s positioning as a cultural tourism destination has cushioned it from the current economic crisis, leading members of the industry have maintained
"Syria is a cultural tourism destination, which depends largely on older, often retired people, not the younger generation, who may be scared of losing their jobs, or have already lost their jobs," said Sharif Al-Ferm, managing director of Damascus-based tour operator, Dawn Group. "Our type of tourism helped us in this crisis."
Al-Ferm drew comparisons with Sharm El-Sheikh, a beach destination that relies on a younger, less financially-stable set of travellers. Ilse Barta, marketing manager of Nawafir Travel & Tours, agreed.
"We are working with clientele who are over forty and quite settled financially, so they can afford to holiday here. Also, this is not a charter destination. Across Europe, they’ve reduced charter flights to beach destinations. But we’ve never had charter flights to Syria anyway," she explained.
This has led to a reversal of fortunes for the country’s tourism industry, which is seeing consistently strong demand for the first time in years. "We were getting bad press, we were connected to the Axis of Evil, but Syria is a popular destination now, for tourism, and for investment," Al-Ferm maintained.
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"For the spring season, things went very well, and even for autumn bookings look. For the first year we are seeing two seasons working well," said Barta.
Occupancy at the Dedeman Damascus peaked at 92% for April, Hazem Sebai, deputy general manager at the hotel, which was formerly the Le Meridien Damascus, revealed.
"There are many reasons from this. The whole international political scene is better with the arrival of Obama. During the Bush reign the whole world was under tension. Obama has started to shake hands with the whole world. This has really helped," said Al-Ferm.
‘The most important thing for us has been Bush going. The Obama election was a great relief. It changed thing immediately. As soon as the media changes its tune, everyone is convinced," Barta agreed.
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