Syria requires as much as $100 billion in investment over the next seven years to revive its tourism sector as the country seeks to bring back international visitors and create jobs, its Tourism Minister has said.
The country aims to attract funds to rehabilitate its cultural heritage sites, rebuild hotels, construct new resorts and entertainment cities and overhaul its infrastructure to welcome domestic and international visitors, Mazen Al Salhani told The National.
Investors are visiting Syria to explore opportunities in the sector following the 14-year civil war that ended with the toppling of the regime of Bashar Al Assad.
“We are talking to all the businessmen who had pending investments that were paused due to the war and the previous regime. We've amended our investment laws to help them return to building hotels,” Mr Al Salhani said.
“All the investments in touristic destinations, restoration of monuments and rebuilding historical cities in co-operation with Unesco, we're looking at about $100 billion.”
According to Ministry of Tourism data, 1,468 tourism establishments across Syria require redevelopment or reactivation, representing a “substantial” pipeline for local, regional and international investors.
Syria is gradually rebuilding its long-dormant tourism sector after the civil war and sanctions that isolated it from the global financial system.
In September, Syria signed investment deals worth $1.5 billion to support tourism through direct contracts and initial agreements. The projects include building hotels and entertainment cities, as well as rehabilitating historic areas.
At its peak in 2010, Syria attracted 8.5 million tourists, many of them from the West. All that changed in 2011 with the onset of the war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee abroad as refugees.
The new government led by President Ahmad Al Shara is now seeking to rebuild investor confidence, attract foreign direct investments, reform its laws and introduce a revalued currency.
Tourism in numbers
Syria is aiming to attract a total of five million visitors this year, up from about four million Syrian expats, Arab and non-Arab tourists last year, the minister said.
However, it faces challenges including raising public confidence in safety and security, increasing air links with the world, boosting airlines' capacity, redeveloping Damascus International Airport, improving road and rail transport, offering quality accommodation, restoring war-hit historical sites, building new tourist destinations and retraining workers.
Under its five year-tourism strategy, Syria aims to increase the sector's contribution to the gross domestic product from 15 per cent in 2025 to between 30 and 35 per cent by 2030, Mr Al Salhani said.
The plan also calls for hiring 40,000 people in direct and indirect tourism jobs in 2026, jumping to between 450,000 and 500,000 by 2030, he added.
Turkey led surge in tourists
The total number of visitors to Syria in the first 11 months of 2025 reached 3.56 million, up 18 per cent on the same period last year, according to a new report by the Syrian Ministry of Tourism released on Wednesday. These included Arabs, non-Arabs and Syrians living abroad, with the latter constituting the majority of visitors during the first year after the country’s liberation.
The number of visitors from non-Arab countries reached nearly 377,000 in the January to November period, up 79 per cent year-on-year, led by Turkey, Germany, the UK and Norway. This international demand paves the way for new investment in hospitality, air travel and sustainable tourism, the minister said.
Arab tourist arrivals also rose sharply by 80 per cent to 491,000 during the period, with the biggest influx coming from Jordan, Palestine and Egypt.
Syrian expats constituted the largest number of visitors to the country, reaching 2.69 million, an increase of 6 per cent annually.
Turkey was the fastest-growing market for international visitors to Syria last year, with visitor numbers up 10 times to about 94,000 in the first 11 months of 2025.
Mr Al Salhani attributed this jump to a postwar improvement in political relations between the two countries, Turkish investments in Syria, visits by Syrians with Turkish citizenship and Ottoman heritage sites to explore.
Is Syria ready for tourists?
Following years of conflict that disrupted travel, Syrian authorities are promoting the country's cultural, historical, natural and culinary offerings to revive tourism.
Still, pockets of sectarian fighting and government clashes with Kurdish fighters stir doubts among foreign tourists about safety and raise questions about the right time to visit the country.
Mr Al Shara has not been able to assert control over the whole country and violent clashes have taken place over the past year involving the country’s minority groups. Syrian government forces have also closed in on areas in north-east Syria controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The fighting led to the group’s withdrawal from areas holding camps for ISIS members and their relatives, leading to a chaotic handover of detainees.
Mr Al Salhani noted that in 2025, there were “zero incidents” recorded with tourists to the country.
“After the liberation, we have opened our doors to all countries worldwide. While there are some fears by many people when they watch the media, the throes of the revolution is coming to an end and there are some spots that are out of control but will soon be within the control of the new government,” Mr Al Salhani said.
“Despite these issues, tourism has been truly wonderful and there's been a huge influx of visitors into Syria by tourists, investors and displaced Syrians who obtained other nationalities.”
Some 1,500 tourism police officers have also been posted across the country to help visitors, ensure security and offer basic tour guide assistance, he added.
From an infrastructure perspective, the ministry has launched a programme to upgrade one and two-star hotels to modernise accommodation options and attract budget travellers.
Damascus International Airport is also being expanded from a current capacity of four million to 6.5 million in June, the minister said. In the second phase, capacity will increase to 10 million in three years and in the third phase to 31 million passengers annually.
Syria is also working on an electronic visa system to assist access for tourists, the minister said. “With the e-visa and airport improvements, there will be a noticeable increase in visitors from all nationalities.”
The developments come amid easing US sanctions, including the imminent repeal of the Caesar Act, which had severely restricted foreign engagement with Syria, and the roll out of a revalued national currency to support economic stabilisation.
Payments company Visa in December said it plans to restart operations in Syria after more than a decade, signing an agreement with the country’s central bank, a move that is likely to make it easier for international tourists to pay for goods and services in the country.
Marketing Syria as a destination
Mr Al Salhani was appointed in March 2025 to lead efforts to position Syria as a global travel destination.
“We are very intentional in how we present Syria internationally. We are not positioning Syria as a mass tourism destination or competing on volume,” he said. “Instead, we are repositioning it as a high-value, authentic and sustainable destination built on its cultural depth and heritage.”
The focus is on promoting sustainable economic opportunities for locals.
“Rather than simply promoting the destination, we are rebuilding trust through clear frameworks, investment in people, and alignment with modern international standards,” Mr Al Salhani said.
The minister did not reveal the marketing and promotions budget, but said the ministry was investing in new digital platforms, including an integrated information and services portal for tourists that will be announced soon.
It has also allocated a budget for promotional campaigns in 2026, with a focus on producing multilingual digital content, he said.
It is also working with tour operators and airlines, while participating in key international tourism fairs and events in co-operation with the World Tourism Organisation.
The ministry is intensifying efforts to diversify segments including cultural, medical, educational and historical tourism, it said.
It is collaborating with the Ministry of Health to develop the medical tourism sector, projected to generate up to $500 million annually by 2030 and create more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The ministry is also focusing on domestic tourism, which has shown “robust momentum” during 2025, it said. Higher internal visits and “strong” hotel occupancy rates were driven by rising public confidence in safety, more hospitality facilities and the revival of cultural and heritage programmes.
This has made domestic tourism a “stabilising pillar”, it said.
