Hazem Sebai: Tourism in Syria on the right track

Recently, and particularly over the last four years, tourism in Syria has started moving on the right track. The Ministry of Tourism has taken several important initiatives, such as granting visas at the airport, moving towards hotel specialization and rating, developing long-term and short-term plans, sponsoring exhibitions and investment conferences, and inviting a number of journalists and writers from different countries to visit Syria and write about their impressions. This is considered an excellent form of publicity. In addition, when compared to the past, the investment climate has immensely improved, and the market has opened up with the emergence of private banks and insurance companies. Approximately, 40 tourism projects should start operating by 2015. One of the characteristics of Syrian tourism is that it last for a long period; for nearly seven months annually. In April-May, September-October, tourists come from Europe, Asia, and the United States. Whereas in the summer (June-July) tourists come from all over the Arab World. The occupancy rate at hotels in Damascus in July-August, for example, reaches 100%. At the end of September 2007, occupancy rate at 5-star hotels was at 75%. Despite all of these encouraging signals, Syria is yet to catch up with tourism development and needs time to build an integrated and developed tourism structure.

You say that tourism has not yet reached the desired level in Syria. In your opinion, what is still lacking?

The issue of promotion and publicity needs a new vision and more attention. But if we want to market and promote tourism in Syria, we must start at the base, i.e. increase the number of hotels in Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, and Palmyra to accommodate a larger number of tourists. Another real problem we face is that we are not investing in monuments as much as we should. There are several marvelous tourist sites in Syria that unfortunately, are neglected or have not yet been invested in. We must create specialized departments to facilitate the work of investors and reduce bureaucratic measures facing the investor in Syria. We should also look into developing communications, Internet, airport and aviation, rehabilitating roads, as well as advancing tourism in mountainous regions. Another problem we face in Syria, not only in tourism but in other fields as well, is that we do not have enough specialization. We should have specialized tourism magazines that are printed in different languages. Tourism services must encompass all parts of the Syrian Republic, from border to border. Therefore, we should pay particular attention to the smallest details and better reinforce the culture of tourism.

What distinguishes your hotel from others in Damascus?

Le Méridien Hotel is the first in terms of occupancy rate in Syria. At the end of September 2007, this rate was 85.4%. Our market share in terms of occupancy compared with other hotels amounted to 33%. I am against monopoly. I believe in the importance of competition to encourage everyone to work and give their best. I know that new things have a special taste and people like to try them, but eventually people go back to the best and the original.

What makes you distinct from others and puts you always among the top?

We place our customer’s comfort above everything else. In addition, I must say that all our officers, whether administrators or heads of departments, enjoy experience and professionalism in planning and implementation. Starwood, our mother company, gives us a lot of support and always updates us with new information about services and luxurious hotels worldwide. We constantly coordinate with the Ministry of Tourism to sponsor and participate in exhibitions, in addition to providing all it takes to make them succeed in a way that would contribute to promoting Syria first and Starwood (thereby Méridien) second. We have constant workshops that provide maintenance to renovate and develop the hotel. Starwood also provides training courses for employees and executives in order to expand the horizons at work, stimulate their creativity, and keep them up-to-date with the latest developments in the world of tourism. Thus, in order to keep the hotel at the same level outside high seasons, we come up with new ideas and encouraging offers such as a 25% discount on seafood every Tuesday. Last Ramadan, we used the theme “Don’t go to Egypt…Egypt has come to us!” and built a replica of the Egyptian Khan al-Khalili including the dervishes, fortune tellers, decorations, and all other details. Many believed this was the best during Ramadan.