The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Damascus souk yearns for tourists Posted: 22 May 2011 08:14 AM PDT  A vendor waits for tourists in the old souk of the capital Damascus. – AFP pic "I haven't made a penny in four days," laments the 64-year-old. "There is no work. The tourists are gone." His is a story repeated by merchant after merchant in the Syrian capital's market, usually teeming with activity and tourists jostling to buy scarves, jewellery, tablecloths, spices and other souvenirs. An eery silence has replaced the cacophony of traders hawking their wares and calling out to customers in French, English, German and other languages. Tourists have deserted the warren of ancient alleyways and merchants sit forlornly in front of their shops, killing time playing backgammon, fiddling with worry beads or discussing the unrest roiling the country for two months. Faced with the drastic drop in activity during peak season that runs from March until June, many restaurants, hotels and shops have been forced to lay off employees and some have even shut down. Antoune Mezannar, owner of Beit Al Mamlouka, the capital's first boutique hotel, echoed the sentiment of many business people here who feel the international community and foreign media have unjustly targeted their country. "They are distorting reality and turning away tourists," said Mezannar, who has laid off half his employees and whose two hotels are empty. "There is nothing going on in Damascus and yet if you watch the news it looks like the whole country is afire." Viken Korkejian is also anxiously watching developments and wondering how long he can keep his business afloat. "We have laid off about 50 per cent of our hotel staff and 25 per cent of the restaurant staff," said Korkejian, director of Oriental Hotel and Restaurant, another of the dozens of boutique hotels in traditional houses that have flourished in the old town in recent years. Korkejian still keeps his office lit but the entrance – the stunning central courtyard around which life and living quarters revolve – is now dark at night, not worth putting the lights on. "The hotel courtyard used to be filled with customers we could chat with and now it's totally empty, it's sinister," he added. "I had two Swiss customers earlier this month for five days and I felt like I was in heaven." The hotel restaurant's manager Imad Salloum said that although local clients were still showing up, it was not enough to offset losses. "I used to have to turn away customers and now look at us," he said. "Even restaurants outside Damascus that cater to Syrians at the weekend are hard hit and some have closed." A short distance away, Samer Koza, who owns a jewellery store and art gallery, also said his business had all but dried up since mid-April – first because of the unrest in Egypt and then as the pro-democracy protests escalated in Syria with Western countries advising their nationals against travel to the country. "We had the best season ever last year and we were expecting to do even better this year," he said. "But now we are starting to tighten our belts. "I stopped some restoration work that was being done at the gallery and cancelled a planned vacation with my wife to Sweden this summer," he added. "I simply cannot afford to go on vacation and pay my employees at the same time." According to the tourism ministry, the industry in 2010 accounted for 12 per cent of GDP, generating more than US$7.6 billion (RM22.88 billion). The number of tourists jumped by 40 per cent in 2010, from 6.9 million to 8.5 million visitors, according to the ministry. And the 2011 season was promising to be even better, with hotels solidly booked, some six to eight months in advance. The uptick in activity in past years is attributed to heavy investments in the tourism sector and Westerners increasingly flocking to Syria and its archaeological treasures as it shook off its diplomatic isolation following the 2005 assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Saad Hariri. Damascus has denied any role in the killing. Many fear the current tourist downturn will last until the end of the year translating into million of dollars in losses. But for shop-owner Al-Nasser and others in the old souk, it's the immediate future that counts. "I used to sell up to US$30,000 worth of merchandise a month and last month I made only US$3,000," he said. "This month it's probably going to go down to US$500. "I can last at this rate for two more months but beyond that, it's not possible," he added. "I will have to shut down the store." – AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Asia’s tourists catching the railway buzz Posted: 22 May 2011 01:16 AM PDT  A train which can run at speeds up to 300 km per hour goes on a trial run in Shanghai on May 11, 2011. – AFP pic China is this year alone spending 745.5 billion yuan (RM345.94 billion) on expanding its train network, which it hopes will cover 13,000 kilometres by 2012. The country is currently running a one-month test of the Beijing-Shanghai leg of the network, which the government claims will cut travel between the two major cities by five hours. And already the increase in rail options is being felt throughout the transport industry in China, with two of the country's airlines – China Southern Airlines and Lucky Air – cutting flights between the cities of Wuhan and Nanjing after the recent introduction of bullet trains linking the cities offered faster and cheaper options for locals and tourists alike. A recent survey on China's Sina.com – the country's leading news portal – found that 66 per cent of respondents claimed they would rather catch a high-speed train than an airplane. And that's the sort of news that has resulted in Rail Europe deciding to this week open its first flagship store in Asia. Rail Europe (http://www.raileurope.com) – which markets itself as the "world leader in European Rail distribution" – claimed year-on-year growth of 34 per cent in 2010 (RM585.11 million) as demand for train travel in that region developed. And it says demand from Asian tourists continues to be most impressive. "Bookings in Hong Kong were up by 48 per cent from January to April this year, with a 141 per cent increase in April alone," according to Philippe Kirsanow, Rail Europe's sales director for Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. He said in a statement the Hong Kong store would help the company expand through mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam – all markets Rail Europe says are increasingly turning to train travel due to increased services and competitive ticket prices. – AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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