UNDP signs new initiative to promote tourism

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Syria is set to start working with the country's Ministry of Tourism (MoT) to help boost the industry. “UNDP will provide technical support to the Ministry of Tourism according to a project document signed recently, which aims to support the process of identifying and assessing about 100 sites in Syria with potential for investment in tourism,” Fumiko Fukuoka, deputy resident representative for UNDP in Syria, told IRIN in Damascus. This, she added, would be achieved through the formation of an advisory team composed of 18 consultants from the World Tourism Organization and UNDP, as well as national experts. The team is expected to come up with a comprehensive proposal and recommendations for a “Tourism Investment Plan”. “The proper investment of these sites will contribute to socioeconomic development in the country, because boosting the tourism industry will lead to more job opportunities and eventually will alleviate poverty,” Fukuoka pointed out. The project will be implemented in two phases with the first to be completed by April. This will include international and national experts making field tours of sites to be announced for investment. Under the second phase, expected to start in July, the reassessment of the sites that have not been invested in during phase one will take place, as well as preparations for the second international conference on tourism investment in Syria to be held in September. MoT officials, international and national experts, along with a number of investors, will meet in a workshop to be held on 5 and 6 March to consider recommendations made by the advisory team. Bassam Barsik, director of international relations at the MoT, told IRIN that the project was an important step. “Property owned by the MoT and other public authorities as well as property owned by the private sector will be offered in an international conference entitled "Investment Market" to be held between 23-25 April,” he said. At the conference, investors invited from around the world will be offered the opportunity to build hotels, restaurants and other facilities related to tourism on the proposed sites. He pointed out that the 100 sites were located in the cities of Damascus, Aleppo, 335 km north of Damascus, the coastal area of Lattakia, 348 km to the northwest of Damascus, and Homs, 162 km to the north of Damascus, to name a few. “These sites reflect the tourism potential in Syria and express the diversity of the Syrian tourist product,” Barsik added. Barsik highlighted the government’s adoption of tourism as a strategic industry and as a motivator of the national economy based on cooperation between the government and the private sector. “The government views tourism as an industry that generates revenues and contributes to socioeconomic development as well as maintaining the cultural heritage and cultural artistic treasure in Syria,” Barsik added. Tourism revenue reached US $2.2 billion in 2004, against $1,4 billion in 2003, a 57 percent increase and an 18.5 percent annual increase since 2000, Nidal Machfej, promotions director at the MoT, told IRIN. The total number of tourists in Syria reached 3.1 million in 2004, compared with 2.1 million in 2003. However, 75 percent of the arrivals were from Arab countries and Machfej explained that this was due to the fact that Arab tourists do not need a visa to enter Syria. Statistics from the World Tourism Organization suggest that the country receives only 200,000 tourists from Europe on average every year, compared to some 10 million who visit neighbouring Turkey and the 5.5 million who visit Egypt each year. Machfej added that they were shifting promotional activity to Europe. "Tourism in Syria has gone through pressing regional impacts that resulted in the decline of the travel movement from Europe to the region in general, including Syria," he explained referring to the recent conflict in neighbouring Iraq. "On the other hand, the number of Arab tourists has considerably increased as a result of the ministry's activities in different Arab countries to promote tourism and the shifting of Arab tourists from America and Europe due to stiff security measures at the airports," he added. Although the share of cultural tourism is only five percent of global tourism, Machfej said Syria was still considered a major destination for foreign tourists, with some 3,000 sites of archaeological interest representing 33 civilisations across the country.