Foreign visitors surge in Syria during 1H amid foreign investment appetite in tourism sector

Arab travelers drive tourism recovery in Syria: Arab travellers to Syria more than doubled in 1H 2026, jumping 107% y-o-y to 664k, the Syrian Tourism Ministry said. Jordan was the largest Arab source market, followed by Lebanon and Iraq. GCC arrivals kept rising, the ministry said, without putting a number on them.

This surge sits inside a broader recovery. Total arrivals — expats, Arabs, and foreigners — hit 3.52 mn, up 111% from 1.67 mn a year ago. Non-Arab foreign visitors grew fastest, up 448% to 719k from 131k, led by Turkey and followed by Germany, Sweden, the US, the Netherlands, Canada, and the UK. Returning Syrian expats remain the single largest bloc at 2.13 mn, up 75%.

Many foreign investors are eying the tourism sector in Syria. Saudi Arabia’s Ezdihar Holding signed a 50-year JV in April to build The Beaumont, a USD 250-300 mn twin-tower development on the Barada River anchored by a 150-room five-star hotel. Emaar founder Mohamed Alabbar is also optimistic about the sector as he plans as much as USD 18 bn in investments across the Syrian coast and Damascus, calling an 8 mn-visitor target reachable within five years.

Damascus has been priming the supply side to meet the demand: The Tourism Ministry reopened the restored five-star Khan Suleiman Pasha Hotel, and launched last June a program to modernize 332 one- and two-star hotels aimed at budget travellers.

AND- Egypt and Syria are reportedly set to end a 15-year-long suspension of direct flights between Cairo and Damascus in less than two months, sources told Al Arabiya. Officials from both countries recently discussed steps to resume flights between them, ease travel for citizens, and strengthen bilateral ties, according to state news agency SANA. Flights between Syria and Egypt have been suspended since Syria’s security situation deteriorated in 2011.