Syria‘s tourist board has released a video, called ‘Always Beautiful’, as part of a new campaign to encourage tourists to visit the country. The country which is currently in the midst of a brutal civil war which has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The vid shows the seaside city of Tartus, which lies on the Mediterranean Sea and remains under the control of the Syrian government. It shows people having a bloody corker of a time in the sea – swimming, jet-skiing… and that’s essentially it. It’s mostly swimming and jet-skiing. Have a geez:
It may surprise you to learn that this campaign doesn’t seem very concerned with the violent civil war, nor the fact that the Islamic State have occupied vast swathes of Syrian territory. It’s also worth mentioning that Tartus, while being relatively violence-free compared to the rest of the nation, was hit by car bombings in May.
It’s no massive surprise that Syria wants some of that tourist cash – in 2010, before the outbreak of the war, up to 14 percent of Syria’s GDP came from tourism. The Ministry of Tourism posted an update on FB claiming that tourism in July 2016 increased by 30% over the 2015 figure. Small victories, I guess?
Despite that, it might not be a great time to go and soak up some rays, funnily enough. Both the United Kingdom and United States strongly recommend their citizens not visit even the ‘safe’ areas of Syria, given the “very high threat of kidnapping”.
But hey. Look at that beach. Looks like a hella good time.
Source: Middle East Eye.
Photo: YouTube.
