Syria releases seaside ad campaign to boost tourism
7 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Syria’s tourism board is making an attempt to attract travellers to the war-torn nation with the release of a new promotional campaign.The commercial, which tells viewers Syria is “always beautiful”, focuses on the coastal town of Tartus, a town hit by a series of ISIS suicide bombings earlier this year.
It features jet-skiers and beach-goers, with wide, panning shots across the ocean and nearby seaside villas.
The campaign is the government’s attempt to sell the nation as a luxurious holiday destination as tourism numbers plummet amid the country’s civil war.
Nearly eight million tourists visited the country in 2011, before the fighting began, while only 465,000 travelled to the country in 2013, the [URL="http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrian-tourism-ministry-goes-offensive-bid-attract-tourists-1542119416"]Middle East Eye[/URL] reports.
In 2014 Syria’s tourism minister told [URL="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-26/syria-says-seeking-to-boost-domestic-tourism-to-recover-losses"]Bloomberg[/URL] the country was relying on the growth of the tourism industry.
“We’re betting on the tourism sector becoming a major support for the economy,” he said.
In a recent post to Facebook the Ministry of Tourism boasted that the number of tourists visiting Syria had increased 30 percent in 2016.[/QUOTE]
Read more at [url]http://www.9news.com.au/world/2016/09/01/06/48/syria-releases-seaside-ad-campaign-to-boost-domestic-tourism#hjUJchpeOPlYt2hh.99[/url]
[editline]1st September 2016[/editline]
Video in source
Honestly if it weren't for the conflict going on right now, Syria would actually be an amazing holiday destination, I think. It has beautiful landscapes, amazing beaches, and so many spectacular historical sites, which makes it even more tragic that it's currently being torn apart.
[QUOTE=RevolverOcelot;50982177]Honestly if it weren't for the conflict going on right now, Syria would actually be an amazing holiday destination, I think. It has beautiful landscapes, amazing beaches, and so many spectacular historical sites, which makes it even more tragic that it's currently being torn apart.[/QUOTE]
These are all things you could find in Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain, though.
They'd have really tough competition even if it wasn't for the war, so I don't get where this is coming from:
[quote]In 2014 Syria’s tourism minister told Bloomberg the country was relying on the growth of the tourism industry.
“We’re betting on the tourism sector becoming a major support for the economy,” he said.[/quote]
If you're really insistent on jet-skiing in the Mediterranean in the Middle East, there's [I]absolutely no reason whatsoever[/I] to pick Syria over Israel or Lebanon.
It'd be like picking Venezuela to visit South America when you could go over the border to Georgetown in Guyana and get the fourth highest homicide rate instead of the first highest. Plus the official language is English.
[QUOTE=.Isak.;50982218]
It'd be like picking Venezuela to visit South America when you could go over the border to Georgetown in Guyana and get the fourth highest homicide rate instead of the first highest. Plus the official language is English.[/QUOTE]
I don't really think that comparison is quite on the spot. Lebanon and Israel are far, far safer than Syria. To the extent that there have been more attacks in western Europe over the last 3 months than there have been in Lebanon, for example.
You'd be surprised how safe the coastal cities like Tartus and Latakia are, hell they have literally 0 rebel presence to even damage.
Id want to go to see all the historical sites but most have been destroyed by now.
It's actually probably pretty safe if you aren't an idiot. A lot of people do think that if you visit countries like Egypt, Iran, and Syria you'll get killed to death really easily, but in reality, you just have to be mindful of where you are because quite a few places are perfectly safe. Maybe consider it a more extreme version of your own country, I can at least say for America that there are a LOT of places that will fuck you up if you visit them, but we just don't visit them. For example, in Eastern Texas there are towns that literally operate like pre-60s segregation where you will be beaten up/robbed/even killed for being in the wrong part of town, but we just dont visit those towns. Most european countries probably aren't as extreme as that but there will inevitably be places you just avoid.
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