‘Everything is better than before’: How Syria is reopening to tourists

The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus is a key religious site in the region. (Oguz Yeter/Anadolu/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

“Hello from Free Syria. I’m in Damascus right now. It’s a beautiful winter. Everything is better than before,” Ayoub Alsmadi, founder of Syria Scope Travel, told CNN Travel. “Everyone is super-optimistic since the fall of Assad’s regime.”

On Dec. 8, 2024, Damascus fell to Syrian rebels. As Bashar al-Assad’s regime crumbled, the dictator’s 24-year-long reign came to an ignominious end when he fled to Moscow. Now, the green, white and black flag of “Free Syria” flies above Damascus, and local operators like Alsmadi hope to revitalize Syria’s devastated tourist industry.

For the first time since 2011, when Syria was plunged into a decades-long civil war claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians, international airlines including Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines have resumed operations in Damascus.

Although multiple governments advise their citizens not to visit Syria — the U.S. Department of State advises against travel “due to the risk of terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping or hostage-taking, and armed conflict,” while the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office states “If you are a British national in Syria, leave the country by any practical means” — adventure travel companies are scheduling tours over the coming months.

Just six weeks after rebels ousted Assad, Alsmadi welcomed his first tourists at the Lebanese-Syrian border in mid-January. “Right now, because of the war, every single person in the world knows about Syria,” he said from Damascus. “Now Assad is gone I’m sure the tourism industry will grow so fast. And as soon as governments stop saying ‘Don’t go to Syria,’ tourism will explode.”

Before the war

“In 2010, more than 10 million tourists visited Syria,” said James Wilcox, founder of Untamed Borders, a company specializing in extreme destinations which have timetabled their first Syrian tour since the fall of Assad’s regime for April 2025. “Tourism is an incredibly powerful tool to help countries bounce back from years of war. It helps to create hope, particularly in a nation where many other industries were decimated during the conflict.”

Before the civil war, tourism reportedly accounted for 14 per cent of Syria’s GDP. With a history stretching back to antiquity, tourists were drawn to ancient sites like Palmyra, a Greco-Roman city largely destroyed by ISIS and desert landscapes dotted with Crusader-era castles like Krak des Chevaliers. Damascus is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, while the verdant Mediterranean coastline, once famed for its sun-drenched beach resorts, teems with turquoise waters and sandy bays.

Adnan Habbab, director of Nawafir Travel and Tours, opened Beit Zafran Hotel de Charm in a converted, Ottoman-era house dating to 1836 in Damascus’ UNESCO World Heritage-listed Old City in 2010. As tourism boomed in pre-conflict Syria, Habbab’s rooms were fully booked. A year later, he locked his hotel’s historic wooden doors when war erupted.

They remained shuttered until 2017 when conflict lines stabilized. Although the Assad regime tentatively resumed tourism in 2017, Habbab said the government-controled itineraries, secret police-tailed tour groups and guides deviating from the party line could be thrown in jail.

“Whenever I brought tourists to Syria I had the secret service in my office, asking who are they?” Habbab said from his office in Amman, Jordan, where he relocated during the conflict. “Where did they go? What did they do? What did they eat? Who did they talk to? The Assad regime assumed all tourists were spies until they proved otherwise. It was a challenging time to work in tourism.”

Despite these challenges, a desire to rebuild Syria’s tourism industry never waned. Alsmadi, who grew up in Damascus during the civil war and saw his family home destroyed in the fighting, graduated from Damascus University with a degree in Tourism Management in 2019.

“Tourism is always the first thing affected by war and the last to recover,” said Alsmadi. “But tourism is my passion. I’m curious about history, I love languages, and I’m glad I stayed in Syria. I want to help tourism recover.” Alsmadi was certain things would change when he founded Syria Scope Travel in 2019. Now, as his tour-guiding calendar is fast filling up, he believes that time has arrived.

Habbab, who has reopened his hotel’s doors and is organizing tours for spring 2025, agrees.

“The fact is that tourists who come to Syria can talk and walk freely now,” he said. “Syrians are trying to collect themselves, shops and businesses are reopening. I’m very optimistic the future will be much brighter than the last 53 years of darkness under the Assads.”

Is it too soon?

Travelers planning potential trips to Syria will not only be concerned with safety but may question the ethics of visiting a nation consumed, until very recently, by conflict.

The interim government consists of a coalition of rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary described as a “terrorist organization” and an “alias of Al-Qaida.” Former members of the Assad regime are still being hunted down across Syria, and the Red Cross estimates that 90 per cent of Syrians live in poverty and 76 per cent of Syrians face food shortages thanks to years of war and international sanctions.

International tour operators CNN Travel spoke to are hopeful for a quick revival though. Dylan Harris, founder of the British tour company Lupine Travel, had just returned from a 10-day safety assessment in Syria ahead of upcoming tours scheduled in May.

“As things stand in the areas we’re visiting, it’s the safest it’s been for 14 years,” said Harris. “We’re aware it’s still very early days and the situation can change quickly. The country is stable, currently, but it will become clearer in March/April when the transitional government has been in power for a few months.

“The hope is they’re willing to power share and create an inclusive coalition to draft a new constitution and prepare for elections. If HTS decides to go the opposite way though, the outlook is bleak and the risk of returning to years more civil war is high.”

Wilcox of Untamed Borders said the current levels of “relative stability” are promising, but different groups in Syria will want a say in how the country moves forward. Wilcox, who has years of experience organizing tours to former conflict zones, including Somalia and Chechnya, said his company will draw on this experience when it re-launches its Syrian tours to “reduce risk to what we believe is an acceptable level.”

Tour operators like Lupine and Untamed Borders say they’ll utilize experienced local operators and a network of local contacts to stay informed of potentially fast-moving events and mitigate risks for their guests.

Harris from Lupine Travel said that despite years of conflict and robust travel warnings, Syria could reboot its tourism industry quickly. “The infrastructure is there. Most of the tourist sites emerged relatively unscathed from the civil war and lots of hotels survived,” he said. “Many guides and drivers are all still there — they kept themselves busy, becoming media fixers during the war.”

A new type of tourism

Habbab explained how before the war, tourists were primarily history enthusiasts. When tourism resumed in 2017, he largely organized trips for dark tourists wanting a peek inside the Assad regime, a trend he said will continue. Itineraries for 2025 already include the liberated Saydnaya Prison, where Assad’s regime tortured and executed political prisoners, and cities like Aleppo and Homs which were all but destroyed.

Hababb believes visits to sites like these can have a positive impact in recognizing and remembering the regime’s crimes while helping the world better understand the Syrian refugee crisis which, the UN Refugee Agency estimates, forced 14 million Syrians from their homes.

“We need to turn the prisons where they tortured and killed people into museums,” said Habbab. “It’s something we should never forget. It will help people understand that when Syrians took boats to Europe or fled to North America, they had a reason to do so. They had something to fear.”

Likewise, Alsmadi wants tourists to visit sites like Palmyra, which he said holds the history of Syria within its devastated ruins. “Tourists will want to know about the war,” he told CNN Travel. “That’s why I take people to Palmyra. ISIS destroyed the temples in 2014, but now they’re being rebuilt. Palmyra is the story of Syria.”

Tourism as a force for good

Tour operators also point out how, if Syria remains stable, a revitalized tourism industry can help the nation reforge international ties and rebuild its economy.

“It’s completely understandable for people to have concerns about travelling to Syria given its recent history,” said Shane Horan, founder of Rocky Road Travel, who specialize in destinations like Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. They’ve organized a private Syrian tour for February and are launching group trips in April.

“However, we encourage them to see tourism as part of the country’s healing process. Visiting Syria now provides a unique opportunity to witness its resilience and contribute directly to its recovery.”

Gareth Johnson, co-founder of Young Pioneers Tours, sees tourism as a force for good in post-conflict nations. His company has planned tours coinciding with cultural events, including the Marmarita Carnival, a Christian festival celebrated in August.

“Like any country we go to, people-to-people exchanges benefit people,” said Johnson. “Let’s not forget that Syria has been one of the most sanctioned countries on earth, so tourism will not just bring understanding, but also jobs, money and a trickle-down economy benefiting everyone. These are things that the local people are not just craving, but truly deserve.”

Habbab told CNN Travel that for the first time in decades, Syrians have hope, and he wants the world to share in that.

“Come to Syria and you’re witnessing history. The country is like a festival right now,” he said happily. “The millions of tourists who visited us before, I’m sure they’d love to return. If you want to visit, you’re welcome. You can support the Syrian people, the economy, encourage hotels and businesses to reopen, and share our happiness.”