Syria is promoting incoming tourism in an attempt to meet a seven percent GDP growth target, the Syrian official news agency SANA is reporting.
The second Tourist Investment Market Forum has been discussing cooperation between the private and public sectors in various fields, including: developing industry, diversifying the tourism product, promoting aviation into Syria and the Tourism Ministry’s work plan for tourism marketing.
“The importance of this forum lies in the fact that it brings investors together with government officials to reach a work formula to develop tourism, which is considered an important factor in the national economy,” said Syria’s Minister of Tourism S’adullah Agha Al-Qal’a. The minister added, that “more than seven million tourists will bring annual revenues of nearly $5 billion.”
Syria’s aim is to double annual tourism revenue to $5 billion by 2010, state media said on Friday. The government aims “to make Syria a tourist destination of regional and international stature,” said Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Al-‘Utari according to SANA. The prime minister maintains the tourism industry has already shown growth in the past year, as the value of tourism-related investment projects in 2005 was estimated at $7.1 billion, $3.2 billion more than in 2004.