Damascus-SANA
Participants in the workshop called for prospects and opportunities to attract Arab and foreign tourism markets to reconsider granting entry visas to foreigners coming to Syria and Syrians living abroad, holding courses for tourist guides in various languages, supporting the transport sector for companies specialized in tourism transport under official and specific tasks for each trip, and focusing on marketing Syrian and Iraqi tourism abroad, especially historical and cultural tourism.
The participants called for the need to separate between encouraging tourism and tourism investment, facilitating the arrival of tourist groups to Syria, and addressing the difficulties faced by owners of tourist offices.
The workshop also included several axes, including strengthening economic relations, promoting the investment sector in Syria, facilitating access to it, attracting Chinese government companies and motivating them to invest in Syria, the role of this in promoting tourism, ways to stimulate medical and medical tourism, and the directions of the Ministry of Tourism in attracting Arab and friendly tourism markets.
Chinese, Russian and Iraqi, in addition to the requirements of tourism and travel offices to activate their work in the field of tourist recruitment, targeting tourist markets, and prospects for developing economic and tourism relations with brotherly Iraq.
The Minister of Tourism, Eng. Mohamed Rami Martini, pointed out in a statement to the media that the ministry is working to reactivate the tourism sector in the Arab and friendly markets, and to find possible means to overcome the economic blockade and coercive measures imposed on the Syrian people, to facilitate the procedures for tourist arrival to Syria and movement, and to secure and improve all possible services, and to ensure the quality of what is provided to tourists in tourist facilities or border crossings, or during the trip, such as transportation or health insurance.
Minister Martini explained that there are clear indications of the recovery of the tourism sector, through the increase in the number of tourists coming to Syria, pointing out that digital transformation and automation of work through the platform to come to Syria contribute to simplifying procedures and providing services.
In turn, the President of the Federation of Chambers of Tourism in Syria, Eng. Talal Khudair, pointed out that the Federation is working to find a strategic partnership to promote tourism to Syria, through participation in international exhibitions, indicating that he participated this year in the Vitor Tourism Exhibition, one of the most important international exhibitions in Europe, and the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, pointing out that these exhibitions contributed to the increase in the number of arrivals to Syria, and resulted in the signing of a large number of agreements.
Khudair revealed that the union, in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism and a number of tourism and travel companies, is preparing to participate in an exhibition in China this June, and seeks to target Chinese markets by providing promotional tourism programs for all of Syria.
The General Manager of the Syrian Company for Transport and Tourism, Eng. Fayez Mansour, indicated that the company has formed since its re-launch during the last period an influential case in the tourism scene, because of its privacy and role in the positive intervention to serve tourism, and the establishment of various projects in terms of levels along the Syrian map, pointing out that the company has the ability to secure the internal transport movement of tourist groups and host them, and provide all tourism services with high quality, so the tourism sector can rely on it when it thinks about Bring tourists from brotherly and friendly countries.
For his part, Mahmoud Arnaout, a member of the Board of Directors of the Damascus Chamber of Tourism, head of the Guide Division, pointed to the importance of the workshop to raise the concerns and suffering of workers in the tourism sector, and to overcome the difficulties they face to provide the best services to tourists, pointing to the need to hold workshops with countries such as Russia, China, Jordan and Lebanon, because it is the transit point for foreign tourists to Syria.
Sakina Mohammed and Gemma Ibrahim
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