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Everything is better than before’: How Syria is reopening to tourists

By Richard Collett, CNN

8 minute read

Updated 8:07 PM EST, Tue February 11, 2025

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“Hello from Free Syria. I’m in Damascus right now. It’s a beautiful winter. Everything is better than before,” Ayoub Alsmadi, founder of Syria Scope Travel, told CNN Travel. “Everyone is super-optimistic since the fall of Assad’s regime.”

On December 8, 2024, Damascus fell to Syrian rebels. As Bashar al-Assad’s regime crumbled, the dictator’s 24-year-long reign came to an ignominious end when he fled to Moscow. Now, the green, white and black flag of “Free Syria” flies above Damascus, and local operators like Alsmadi hope to revitalize Syria’s devastated tourist industry.

For the first time since 2011, when Syria was plunged into a decades-long civil war claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians, international airlines including Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines have resumed operations in Damascus.

Although multiple governments advise their citizens not to visit Syria — the US Department of State advises against travel “due to the risk of terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping or hostage-taking, and armed conflict,” while the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office states “If you are a British national in Syria, leave the country by any practical means” — adventure travel companies are scheduling tours over the coming months.

Just six weeks after rebels ousted Assad, Alsmadi welcomed his first tourists at the Lebanese-Syrian border in mid-January. “Right now, because of the war, every single person in the world knows about Syria,” he said from Damascus. “Now Assad is gone I’m sure the tourism industry will grow so fast. And as soon as governments stop saying ‘Don’t go to Syria,’ tourism will explode.”er Text