Tourism

The first direct flight from the German city of Düsseldorf landed at the Damascus International Airport last Wednesday, marking the beginning of regular flight operations between Syria and Germany, a country that hosts a sizable Syrian diaspora.

The number of visitors during the first half of the year has surged compared with previous years, but Syria’s tourism sector remains in the early stages of recovery. Several initiatives to advance the much-needed digitalisation of the sector, together with new hotel investments and maritime and airline connections, are encouraging signs.

A new 5-star hotel is expected to be built on the Mazzeh Motorway in Damascus but the identity of the developer and the background of the U.S. consultancy involved in the project remain opaque.

 On May 14, the Minister of Tourism, Mazen Al-Salhani, and the Governor of Idlib, Mohammad AbdulRahman, attended the contract signing ceremony of the project to rehabilitate the Carlton Hotel Idlib. 

A year and a half into post-Assad Syria, the business community in the coastal region navigates the positive and negative economic reverberations of the transitional government’s policies.

The Lattakia and Tartous governorates, with 183 kilometres of coastline, lush mountainous countryside, and historic landmarks such as the Krak des Chevaliers or the Ugarit and Roman ruins, are well positioned to attract much-needed tourism, but the political, economic and security context suggests that the 2026 summer season will fall short of driving economic recovery.

In a recent meeting with a business lobby group in Damascus, Syrian Minister of Tourism Mazen Salhani provided several updates on key hospitality projects across the country.

Last week, the Ministry of Tourism inked a deal to build a large-scale residential and touristic real estate project at the heart of Damascus and cancelled a contract with Saudi company Le Park, which was supposed to develop, among other investments, the Seven Gates Hotel (formerly Sheraton) in the Syrian capital.

The Tartous port will host this spring its first ferry line with daily trips for passengers connecting to ports in Lebanon, Turkey and Cyprus. Earlier this month, a Turkish company signed an agreement to build a shipyard in Tartous Port.

Syria's Minister of Tourism, Mazen Al-Salhani, signed on January 7 a “contractual arrangement” with Rotana Star for Contracting and Westfield Sons, paving the way for the start of work on an integrated hotel and tourism project in the upscale Kafr Sousseh neighbourhood of Damascus. It was not specified whether the document was a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or a final agreement.

A delegation of French businessmen and women arrived in Syria on October 2, meeting with President Ahmad Al-Sharaa and several ministers, including those in charge of Transportation, Telecommunication and Finance. The visit was organised by the Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF), a federation of business owners. This first “French-Syrian Economic Forum” included representatives of 44 large companies.

Saudi company Le Park Concord has announced several tourism investments in Damascus and Daraa.

In recent days, two high-end hotels have been offered for private investment in Aleppo and Idlib, while Saudi company Le Park Concord has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Tourism to develop and rehabilitate tourism facilities.

Syria has announced two projects this week involving Arab partners, reflecting growing interest in the country’s post-conflict economic recovery. These include Qatari food producer Baladna, which announced the establishment of a factory in Syria, and international private equity firm Inventure Group, which pledged to invest in tourism infrastructure in Damascus and Lattakia.

Syria’s tourism sector is showing slow signs of recovery after thirteen years of civil war: a few major tourist facilities have reopened, new visa measures have been implemented to attract foreign visitors, and several international airlines are resuming flights to Damascus and Aleppo International Airports.

Two days after being sanctioned by the European Union, Chams Wings, took part in one of the world’s largest tourism fairs, FITUR, held in Madrid. FITUR organisers said that “any presence of Chams Wings at the event is not a result of a contractual relationship with FITUR."

For the first time since 2012, Damascus, and not opposition-affiliated bodies, will be in charge of organising the pilgrimage for Syrians for the Hajj.

From new tour operators bringing foreign tourists to Syria to recent developments in tourism projects in Tartous, Lattakia or Palmyra; is the tourism industry having momentum?

The number of foreigners who visited Syria this year increased by more than 200 percent compared with 2021, a year impacted by COVID-related restrictions.

A Russian civilian passenger plane recently arrived at the Lattakia International Airport, signalling the resumption of direct flights between Syria and Russia after a twelve-year hiatus.