Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus countryside, SANA-Ministry of Tourism organized Thursday a tourist visit by a delegation comprising artists, athletes, journalists and tourism students to Maaloula city in Damascus countryside as part of its plan to reinvigorate domestic tourism.
The delegation visited the Monasteryof Saints Sarkis & Bakhos
and St. Thecla monastery, and marched along the mountain pass that splits the city in half.
The delegation members were briefed on the history of the two monasteries and their religious, historical and cultural heritage.
Director of the Tourism Ministry’s Tourist Promotion andMarketing Bassam Barsik said the visit is aimed to revive internal tourism as being the key element of making tourism industry a success, as well as “encouraging citizens to come and enjoy tourist attractions in Syria.”
This is the third visit to be organized by the ministry within the plan launched to revive domestic tourism, he added.
He indicated that tourist marketing is a continuous and organized process to market tourist products so as “to paint a positive image of tourist destinations.”
Maaloula is a town located 56 km to the northeast of Damascus, and built into the rugged mountainside, at an altitude of more than 1500 meters. It houses holy Christian sites and is known as one of three remaining villages where Aramic, the language of the Christ, is still spoken,
Manal Ismael
