Tourism Policy For The Old City of Aleppo of the Old City of Aleppo Prepared by: Nihad Alamiri – N’N Design Studios 2005 for Rehabilitation the Project Aleppo Of City Old The For REHAB By Policy Tourism Page 1 of 210 pages Contents Preface.....................................................................................................9 Significance of Tourism for OCA ................................................................. 14 Context: Tourism in Aleppo ....................................................................... 21 Demand Conditions ........................................................................ 22 Factor Conditions ........................................................................... 40 Structure of the Tourism Industry..................................................... 46 Strategies ..................................................................................... 57 Related and Supporting Industries .................................................... 59 Role of Government........................................................................ 63 Domestic rivalry............................................................................. 72 International Competition................................................................ 73 Spread Effect of Package Tourist Spending......................................... 91 Conclusion: Where Are We?.............................................................96 Competitive Advantages and Disadvantages of OCA ................................... 100 OCA as a Place to Visit .................................................................. 101 OCA as a Tourism Business Location ............................................... 105 OCA as a Place to Live .................................................................. 111 OCA Tourism Target Stakeholders ............................................................ 114 The Community ........................................................................... 115 The Tourists ................................................................................ 119 OCA Tourism Policy ................................................................................ 126 Pillar 1: Industry Development................................................................. 132 Pillar 2: Product Development.................................................................. 140 Pillar 3: Branding ................................................................................... 158 Pillar 4: Marketing.................................................................................. 165 Pillar 5: Data Collection and Assimilation ................................................... 177 Pillar 6: Control ..................................................................................... 181 Pillar 6: Organization .............................................................................. 185 Last words ............................................................................................ 197 Appendix .............................................................................................. 198 Page 2 of 210 pages Detailed Table of Contents Preface.....................................................................................................9 Mission ...........................................................................................9 Approach ...................................................................................... 10 Theoretical Frameworks .................................................................. 11 Main Theoretical framework ................................................... 11 Secondary Theoretical framework ........................................... 12 Data Issues ................................................................................... 13 Significance of Tourism for OCA .............................................................14 The Case of Tourism ....................................................................... 15 Global Tourism Growth.......................................................... 15 Recent Tourism Trends.......................................................... 15 What others are doing........................................................... 15 The Case of OCA ............................................................................ 16 OCA’s Potentail .................................................................... 16 OCA’s Problem ..................................................................... 16 No.1 fear: loss of identity and authenticity of OCA .................... 18 Role of tourism in constructing/deconstructing identity .............. 19 What REHAB Wants?....................................................................... 20 Context: Tourism in Aleppo ....................................................................21 Demand Conditions .................................................................................. 22 Segment structure of demand.......................................................... 22 Day trippers (less than 24 hours trip)...................................... 24 Tourists (more than 24 hours trip) .......................................... 25 Home Demand Composition............................................................. 29 Demand size and patterns of change................................................. 33 Hotel Guests........................................................................ 33 Hotel Nights ........................................................................ 34 Length of Stay ..................................................................... 35 Seasonality ......................................................................... 36 Factor Conditions ..................................................................................... 40 Capital/Investment......................................................................... 40 Transport...................................................................................... 41 Aleppo’s Tourism Resources............................................................. 42 Aleppo Geographical Tourism zones .................................................. 43 OCA ................................................................................... 43 Human Resources .......................................................................... 45 Employment ........................................................................ 45 Skills .................................................................................. 45 Structure of the Tourism Industry............................................................... 46 Ministry of Tourism (MOT) ............................................................... 47 Tour operators and Travel Agents ..................................................... 48 Tour Guides................................................................................... 49 Restaurants................................................................................... 51 Souvenir Shops.............................................................................. 52 Hotels........................................................................................... 53 Aleppo Hotel Supply.............................................................. 53 Hotel Distribution ................................................................. 53 Investment Plans ................................................................. 55 Hotel Pricing and Rating ........................................................ 55 Competitiveness................................................................... 55 Page 3 of 210 pages Taxes on Tourists ................................................................. 55 Occupancy Rates.................................................................. 55 Strategies ............................................................................................... 57 Firms’ strategies ............................................................................ 57 Areas of strength ................................................................. 57 Areas of weaknesses............................................................. 57 Private Sector Marketing Strategies .................................................. 58 Relations of Public and Private Sectors .................................... 58 Related and Supporting Industries.............................................................. 59 Definitions..................................................................................... 59 Examples of Related and Supporting Industry .................................... 60 Linkages ....................................................................................... 61 Leakage........................................................................................ 62 Internal leakage................................................................... 62 External leakage .................................................................. 62 Role of Government ................................................................................. 63 The Case for Tourism Development in Syria ....................................... 63 Economic Liberalization ................................................................... 64 Organizational Structure ................................................................. 65 MOT 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