On the Syrian coast, summer tourism suffers from economic crisis – Technologist

Driving up Côte-d’Azur Road from downtown Latakia to the blue beach feels like getting a glimpse of the holidays. Palm trees stretch for miles. The beach resorts’ high walls hide the sea. Every summer, Latakia’s private beaches and glossy hotels welcome Syria’s golden youth, tourists from the region and even Russian officers stationed at the Hmeimim air base or Tartous naval base in search of idleness, Jet-Ski outings and alcohol-fueled parties.

In front of Côte d’Azur de Cham Resort, whose heyday is long past, air mattresses and souvenir sellers awaited vacationers. The sun was almost at its highest with temperatures over 30ºC. This summer, Iraqi, Jordanian and Kuwaiti tourists were the most numerous. They took advantage of the reopening of the Nassib border post between Jordan and Syria, and of visa exemption, to reach the Syrian coast. Syrians were also present, but in smaller numbers than usual due to soaring gas prices.

‘Here we are free’

Dressed in a raspberry gauze pantsuit and adorned with gold jewelry, Lynn (like the other witnesses quoted, she did not wish to give her name, and her first name has been changed) was doing some shopping with her two young children. The 40-something woman came from Hama, 120 kilometers to the east, with her husband and a couple of friends to spend four days at the seaside resort. They usually stay for a week, but now everyone is touched by the economic crisis. On her science teacher’s salary – 450,000 Syrian pounds (LS), around €31 a month – Lynn can barely afford the gas to get there and back. A single hotel night costs four times her salary.

“Fortunately, my husband earns dollars with his company in Nigeria,” she said. Her husband’s expatriate position enables them to continue treating themselves to this short annual interlude in the seaside resort, a privilege only a tiny minority of Syrians can afford. “Here, the sea is beautiful and, above all, you can wear whatever you want. We’re free, people are friendly and don’t stare at you,” she explained. Her way of saying that bikinis are the norm at Côte d’Azur de Cham.

Few women wear bathing suits on the more popular beaches dotting the coast between Latakia and Tartus. Men and children are often the only ones in the water. Lightly-clad women also avoid strolling the coastal roads of downtown Latakia and Tartus, where families come to enjoy the sea air in the evenings with a hookah and some food. Among them are many displaced persons from the civil war who have never been able to return home, as well as poor or wealthy families from the more conservative countryside of Aleppo and Idlib.

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