CC BY
8
UDC 338.486
Alghafri M.A.
Ph.D. student Kursk State University Institute of Economics and Management
Russia, Kursk Supervisor: Veklenko Vasily Ivanovich Doctor of Economics, Professor CULTURAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
Abstract. Political stability and safety are prerequisite for tourism in any place in the world. This paper tries to outline the deeply rooted Syrian cultural heritage and the tourism industry before and during the ongoing war. It tries on to analyze the current hurdles that have emerged because of the war. It tries to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures taken by the government. It underscores the need of measures that are proactive. It sees the absence of increasing the awareness of the local community about the value of its heritage as a leading reason of looting and destruction. It also shows the need to direct attention to internal tourism and the importance of attracting tourists from the friendly countries around the world.
Keywords: cultural heritage, tourism sector, Crisis management, protection, Syria
Алгафри М.А. студент аспирантуры 2 курса Курский государственный университет Институт экономики и управления
Россия, г. Курск Научный руководитель: Векленко В. И., д.э.н.
профессор
УПРАВЛЕНИЕ КУЛЬТУРНЫМ НАСЛЕДИЕМ И РАЗВИТИЕ ТУРИЗМА В СИРИЙСКОЙ АРАБСКОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКИ
Аннотация. Политическая стабильность и безопасность являются обязательными условиями для туризма в любой точке мира. В этой статье делается попытка обрисовать глубоко укоренившееся сирийское культурное наследие и индустрию туризма до и во время продолжающейся войны. Она пытается проанализировать нынешние препятствия, возникшие из-за войны. Она пытается оценить эффективность мер, принятых правительством. Это подчеркивает необходимость мер, которые являются упреждающими. В качестве главной причины грабежей и разрушений он видит отсутствие повышения осведомленности местного сообщества о ценности своего наследия. Это также показывает необходимость обратить внимание на внутренний туризм и важность привлечения туристов из дружественных стран по всему миру.
Ключевые слова: культурное наследие, туристический сектор, Кризисное управление, защита, Сирия
Introduction. Syria before 2011 was enjoying the growth of its tourism industry every year. The year of 2010 was considered to be an extraordinary one for this sector. The number of international tourists to Syria reached 8.5 million compared to 6 million in 2009.Moreover, this industry, generated about 8.3 $ billion in 2010 [6, 7]. Its contribution to the GDP reached (12%) in 2010, and provided 11% of the jobs [14]. This growth did not come only from the successful Syrian foreign policy, which played an essential role in this improvement but also from the stimulus offered by the government to increase the investments such as tax exemption and leaving the investors free to choose their form of investment. Moreover, the lifting of Visa requirements for Iranian and Turkish citizens, also played a key role in this growth of Syrian tourism industry [5,9]. The method used in this paper is a descriptive analysis of the information obtained from the government websites which have been regularly visited and updated on the current situation.
Tourism industry and cultural heritage. The flourishing tourism industry started to decline dramatically after the unrest in January 2011, which turned into a real political crisis in March 2011 until present. The result of this war was ruinous both to the tourism industry and the heritage. This instability mutated the image of Syria into that of a bloody battlefield. The major tourist sites are in danger. The country's heritage, including the museums and the archaeological sites, has been experiencing serious threats. These sites have been close to fights and sometimes have turned into the battle fields of these fights. In museums, has undergone high levels of destruction and looting. The universally valuable Syrian World Heritage Sites are right now on the UNESCO'S list of danger, an initiative that aims at attracting attention to the risks that they are exposed to and to ensure their safeguarding [2,16].
The ongoing war in Syria since 2011 has taken its toll on the economy, and the country's travel and tourism industry has been a major causality of it. The beautiful image of Syria as a safe destination switched to a bloody battlefield, since the war has been raging on almost all the country. As consequences, the number of tourist arrivals has fallen by 64 percent in 2011 compared to the same period of 2010[18,10] since the majorities of source countries of inbound tourism have imposed travel bans to Syria and called their citizens to leave it [18]. Hotels are still another victim of the war, since many of them either shut down or suffered from a serious damage, especially in Aleppo and Homs [19]. The Syria's income from hospitality industry underwent a dramatic decrease of 95 percent in 2 years after the beginning of the war [19]. Moreover, many international hotels which were scheduled to be opened in Syria put on Hold their projects [20]. The war causes loss of 258 thousand Jobs in Hospitality [21] Syria's travel agencies have stopped to operate since the beginning of the war [8,17].
The Syrian government has been undertaking measures during the war in order to increase the readiness of Syria as a tourist destination, while security is being slowly restored. The most important strategy adopted by the Syrian government was switching to new markets to salvage the tourism industry. Syria shifted to the East for new markets, mainly friendly countries like Russia, China, Iran and India. These countries do not any political agendas against Syria and are less susceptible to the impact of political unrest [15]. Medium and small sized project and investments. We have to appreciate the role of the Ministry of Tourism which is gradually trying to secure a good environment for tourist investments. It has been recently focusing on medium and small projects which do not require big funding and are desired by many investors [11].
Domestic tourism and different tourist products. Shifting focus from international tourists to domestic audience, is one of the best strategies adopted by the Syrian government to save tourism industry from collapsing. This strategy has saved many national tourism industries from collapsing long before 2011 [6]. Religious tourism is the major survivor type tourism in Syria. Christians and Muslims have always engaged in and enjoyed every aspect of Syrian life due to the presence of special religious landmarks. The Syrian government tries to keep pace with religious tourism. In this context it published brochures for religious tourism in Syria.
Syria firstly adopted a strategy of threatening and blocking the media. It has exerted pressure on certain international media outlets to adjust what they perceive as 'biased' or 'distorted' coverage of the uprising events [4,13]. A delegation of journalists, academic and local politicians from India have been hosted by the Ministry of Tourism. It participated in the International Fair of Tourism and Travel, which was held in New Delhi (India) and notably bagged the Best Promotional Items Award. It participated in International Exposition for Tourism and Travel in Russia [3].
It also collaborates with the Chinese embassy in Damascus, to promote the image of real Syria through the Chinese media; to show the true picture of the Syrians suffering from terrorism. The Ministry of Tourism is also working on the cooperation with China in the field of exhibition and initiating the promotion of tourism between the two countries during the coming period [12,20]. The Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums is currently striving to fight the illicit trafficking of the cultural properties and it coordinates with INTERPOL, and other concerned national bodies (the police, the customs, the governorate, the municipalities and other). In the same context, it holds many workshops on fighting against illegal trafficking and raising awareness with the participation of local authorities as well as NGOs, member of local community, researchers, artists and writers within the fields. The number of guards and patrol were increased. These measures resulted in thousands of archaeological items being returned by confiscation [1,2].
Internationally, the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums is also cooperating with the competent organizations, UNESCO (The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property).., by organizing meetings, workshops, discussing ways, exchanging ideas to reduce the effects of the war, stop the illegal excavation, to improve surveillance and other measures [1]. Because of the good management plan and undertaken by Syrian government, return of the tourism sector is expected in the next stage and this optimism is due to several factors (Figure 1).
1400000
U FOREIGN ARRIVALS u ARAB ARRIVALS
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
2018
2017
2016 2015
2014
0
Figure 1 - The number of foreign and Arab arrival to syria during 20142018 (By author)
Syrian government is recommended to give low interest loans to encourage the domestic tourism and encourage people to start small and moderate touristic business too. More coordination among stakeholders is recommended in addition to making available the funding for tourism infrastructure and marketing effort. Addressing their needs, their concerns and incorporating their suggestions in the decisions made is expected to be capable of boosting this sector.
The obvious lack of hotel and resource management should be worked out. Syria is in a real need to upgrade the experience offered to tourists and to improve the services offered in the diverse touristic places (Figure 2). These campaigns should foreground the touristic places like the coast line and the surrounding places which have not undergone any conflict. More efforts could be placed to improve the infrastructure to receive 'beach tourists' not only from the Syrian nationals but from other countries like Russia.
It is known that there are many tourist destinations in these areas which are quite ancient but less visited. Concerning the archaeological heritage, we should immediately start restoration, rehabilitation of our destructed heritage. This can be more effective when the international community is involved. The international community should support the efforts of the archaeological authorities towards
issuing an international resolution by the UN Security Council that bans illicit trafficking of Syria's cultural property (following the Iraqi example), to address the issues of theft and of smuggling and that of recovering and returning the stolen and smuggled artifacts in the future. More pressure should be put on the neighboring countries to control their borders and close them against thieves and smugglers. Specialized guards should be trained to maintain the safety of such sites.
Visitors of museums
Visitors to cultural heritage sites
2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
Figure 1 - The number of visitors of museums and cultural heritage sites in Syria during 2014- 2018 (By author)
Conclusion. It is understood that an initial negative shock of an instability is inevitable everywhere, from lower demand to the reduction of investments as tourists and investors lose confidence. However, it is also believed that the tourism industry should be revived not only after the war ends, but measures should be undertaken during the war to ameliorate the current hurdles, boost the tourism of the safe areas and help the rapid restoration after the war comes to an end. This definitely necessitates raising awareness on the national and international levels.
The Syrian government as well as the people of the country should play major roles in this. The international community represented by the UNESCO and the neighboring countries should take effective decisions that can help in mitigating the current consequences and speed up the recovery process. Encouraging the world to lift the economic as well as all types of sanctions which negatively affected the Syrian people and indirectly the tourism sector. These sanctions brought communication with foreign missions to a halt. It is believed
that a solution to this problem must be found so that these missions can fulfill their obligations.
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