Courts lack safeguards against political interference and the workforce lacks language skills and training. Yet the risks have not put off investors from the oil-exporting Gulf.
Qatari Diyar, a real estate company owned by the Qatar Investment Authority, is building a US$350 million resort on the Mediterranean coast. Kuwait’s Kharafi group is building a 361-room hotel in Damascus. Global hotel brands — including Movenpick, Kempinski and Holiday Inn — also plan developments.
“Syria is a bargain, although it needs to develop its infrastructure,” Kuwaiti businessman Abdul Hameed Dashti said.
In the covered souqs of Old Damascus, Western tourists now shop for Syrian kilims and amble from the tomb of the Mamluk ruler Baibars to courtyard houses-turned-boutique hotels.
Gone are the days when a visitor could wander through the ruins of Palmyra, a classical city that rises like a mirage from the eastern desert, without encountering another soul.
“Syria needs to do more preservation. I was in Lebanon and the level of indiscriminate construction made me never want to go back,” Swiss tourist Roland Diethelm said.
Repeated wars have left scars on Syria’s neighbor Lebanon, but those tourists who do make the journey often combine it with a short drive to Damascus.
Construction across Syria has been chaotic but investors are taking increasing care to preserve the character of Old Damascus and Aleppo, realizing that this is what many Europeans crave.
Opened a year ago, Beit Zaman hotel is a painstakingly restored 300-year-old courtyard house located on Damascus’ Roman-era Straight Street, which is mentioned in the Bible.
“Our customers appreciate the restoration work we have done and the feel of Old Damascus,” Beit Zaman spokeswoman Solar Arissian said.
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