Of these, 345,000 are from Arab countries and 40,000 from other foreign nationalities, according to the headline in statements quoted by the Al-Watan newspaper.
He pointed out that in the same period of 2022, the number of visitors was 236,000, including 206,000 from Arab countries and 30,000 from other nations.
Minister Martini attributed this increase to the decision taken in mid-March 2022 to reopen the borders after a closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also announced that around 36,000 foreigners were in Syria during this period to visit the holy sites of various religious denominations.
In 2010, the year before the war began, the country received eight million 500,000 visitors and this sector contributed income that was 9.0 percent of gross domestic product, but after that the flow of tourists dropped by 98 percent.
According to various media outlets, the sector’s losses totaled billions of dollars, while 1,500 facilities went out of service, 403 tourist attractions were destroyed and more than 260,000 workers lost their jobs. ode/fm