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Damascus/Aleppo, May 6 (IANS) Yaseer, the owner of an antique and souvenir shop in Old Damascus, is a proud man and hates selling on discounts. But since public protests erupted 13 months ago in Syria and sanctions by Western powers, he is now all too willing to slash prices by more than half. Yaseer is not an isolated sufferer. Rows and rows of shops across the once bustling streets of Damascus and Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub, lie deserted and look utterly desolate. In hotels across major Syrian cities and tourist attractions, there are virtually no bookings, forcing them to offer massive discounts, belying better times when around 8.5 million tourists visited the country, nearly twice that of India. The cafes and restaurants are mostly filled with locals, smoking sheeshas (hubble bubble) to ride out the hard times. At a five-star hotel located close to the majestic Aleppo Fort, they have stopped serving buffet breakfast, and prepares breakfast only on order. 'There are hardly any guests here, sir,' Inad, a distraught young bearer at the hotel, told a visiting IANS correspondent. Tourism has come down by more than 60 percent, says Tourism Minister Lamia Assi, putting up a brave face on what's bleeding the Syrian economy dry. After oil, tourism is Syria's largest source of hard currency and generated $8.3 billion in revenues in 2010, the year before the Arab Spring-like fever swept some towns of Syria like Homs, Hama and Daraa. The story of desolation repeats itself wherever you go, especially the fabled historical and cultural attractions of this country that has seen civilisations, religions and cultures criss-cross across centuries. At Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, also known as the Grand Mosque that is home to a shrine which contains the head of John the Baptist, there are mostly religious tourists these days and most of them are from Iran and Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan. The mosque, which houses the tomb of the legendary Muslim conqueror Saladin, is grand in every sense of the word; it has exquisite screenings and its spacious, elegantly-decorated halls are where prayers fly every day and wishes are made. A genuinely secular country, Syria is replete with churches, mosques and sacred shrines where Muslims and Christians often pray together. Besides, this country of 24 million people is bristling with myriad secular pleasures, including pristine beaches and snowy resorts. A nearly 45 minute-drive from Damascus stands a breathtakingly beautiful monastery carved out of rock in Maalula village that remains the last outpost of Aramaic, the language Jesus Christ spoke. Made famous by Mel Gibson's movie 'The Passions of the Christ', the place was a must-visit for Christians around the world in happier times, but now even the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic is not attracting tourists here. The pagan sensuality and aesthetics await visitors to Sweida, a province located 90 km from Damascus, which houses some spectacular archaeological sites going back to Greek and Roman times. One of the celebrated wine-producing regions, here you will find elegant mosaics of Dionysius, the Greek god of wine and Aphrodite Immortal, the goddess of love. Tourists from western Europe, the US and Britain who form the backbone of Syrian tourism have been weaned away by advisories from their governments who accuse the Bashar Al Assad regime of organised massacre of opposition activists and civilians. Another nuisance for Syrians is what they call the relentless blitz of negative news streaming from international news networks, particularly Western media. The fellow Arabs, who form nearly half of the tourist inflow, seem to have become pawns in political games as Syria accuses Saudi Arabia and Qatar of fomenting unrest in the country. Negative news, as industry insiders say, is often the death of tourism. The tourism minister admits that the sanctions have negatively impacted this once-vibrant sector, but feels confident Syria will bounce back. 'We feel we will emerge much stronger from the crisis. People don't care much about what the Western media has been telling. They are telling lies,' says Assi. But rhetoric is not the answer to Syrians' economic woes which are getting exacerbated by the day. That's why, Assi says, she is now looking East to new markets in friendly countries like China and Russia, the two countries which rallied to Syria's side in the two conflicted votes in the UN Security Council over the last year. (Manish Chand can be contacted at manish.c@ians.in)
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