Until the 2000s, bilateral relations between Turkey and Syria had been somewhat limited, and even strained, but the two countries have begun to cooperate in tourism after recently abolishing visa requirements along their border, with the Syrian Tourism Ministry requesting Turkey’s aid in marketing Syria to the world as a tourist destination.
If the planned cooperation can be fully implemented, tourists arriving in Turkey will be able to visit Syria as well. Syria has a rich potential, particularly for faith tourism, and it is estimated that the Palmyra region in central Syria can attract about 5 million tourists a year.
The tourism ministers of the two countries met in Latakia in August to discuss the potential for cooperation in tourism and decided to make use of Turkey’s experience in order to market Syria. The Syrian Tourism Ministry is also intent on securing Turkish help in promotion activities as well as in jointly marketing both countries to potential tourists. Speaking to Today’s Zaman about the Syrian proposal, which Turkey has accepted, Turkish Association of Travel Agents (TÜRSAB) Vice President Çetin Gücün noted that they are trying to complete the cooperation project in time for the 2010 tourism season.
“Syria proposed that the two countries should be jointly promoted and marketed in the field of tourism. They suggested that joint destinations should identified. After the tourism ministers of the two countries shook hands, TÜRSAB’s research and development department started to work on it. These two countries will be promoted together in the Far East, North and South America and Africa. We are still working on this. Combined tour programs are being prepared for the two countries. For tourists coming from remote destinations, visiting a single country is not enough. They are eager to visit more than one country. There are successful implementations of this policy. If we manage to put in place a similar cooperation with Syria, the two countries’ market share in tourism will increase exponentially. I believe this project will be very successful,” he said.
Some 485,000 Turkish citizens visited Syria in 2008, and in the first half of 2009 -- before visa requirements were abolished -- 324,000 Turks visited the country. With the lifting of visa requirements, the number of visits between the two countries has exceeded 100,000 monthly. It is estimated that Syria, which was visited by 20,000 Turks in 1990, will receive more than 1 million Turkish tourists in 2010.
According the statistics provided by the tourism ministers of the two countries, the number of Syrians visiting Turkey increased by 20 percent in 2008. A 50 percent increase is expected in this figure by the end of the year. İstanbul, Mersin, Hatay, Adana and Bolu are the most popular destinations for Syrian tourists. A significant portion of Syrian tourists visiting İstanbul tend to travel to a third country from there. The officials of the two countries are conducting talks for allowing people to use the Hatay and Adana airports while traveling from third countries to Syria. Syria has been somewhat isolated from the rest of the world since the US intervention in Iraq and sees Turkey as its door to the external world. In return, Turkey regards Syria as its gate to the Middle East.
Syria was visited by 1.2 million tourists during the period when its bilateral relations with Turkey were strained, and it is said that with the recent rapprochement between the two countries, the number of tourists visiting Syria has skyrocketed to 6 million. With the abolishment of visa requirements, people have rushed to the three border crossings between Syria and Turkey. In an effort to handle the increased demand, officials from the two countries met again and decided to build separate counters for tourists and tour groups arriving from third countries. This measure is expected to solve the problem of the projected increase in demand during the 2010 tourism season. Moreover, the Cilvegözü Border Crossing, a major gate between the two countries, will be modernized as was done with the Habur Border Crossing.
The part TÜRSAB will play is not limited to promotion. TÜRSAB will also provide training services to Syrian travel agencies that are less experienced in tourism. Actually, TÜRSAB has already begun training Syrian tour guides.
Noting that despite the global economic crisis, more than 25 million tourists have visited Turkey so far this year and that Turkey is among the world’s top 10 countries in terms of its tourism revenues, which amount to $7 billion, TÜRSAB Vice President Gürcün said: “There are 90 airplanes that belong to private airlines. Turkish Airlines [THY] has 132 airplanes. The bed capacity is about to exceed 1 million in tourism. Last year, 31 percent of Turkey’s foreign trade deficit was compensated for by tourism revenues. Although a 6 percent contraction is expected in the tourism sector around the world due to the global crisis, we expect Turkey to be significantly successful with 1 percent growth in 2009. Thanks to cooperation with Syria, the Turkish tourism sector may break another record in 2010.”
Article Source:champress.net
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