There are more than 700 tourism projects under construction in all the Syrian governorates, Minster of Tourism Saadallah Agha al-Qala said on Sunday.

During a workshop on tourism promotion plan, he added that the number of the new beds in the hotels reached 2200 beds in 2009 in comparison with 1300 beds in 2008, pointing out that this increase came as a result of launching the project of tourism investment for 2005-2006.

Director of Tourism Promotion at the Ministry of Tourism Ahmed al-Yusuf said that the plan aims at promoting tourism and the expenditure in this sector along with promoting tourism investment and conveying the true image of Syria.

"It also aims at promoting tourist attractions in Syria and encouraging tourism agencies to participate in the process of promotion." He added.

The plan includes the results of assessing and studying the major markets such the French, German, Italian, Spanish and British markets and distributing 2010 promotion budget among the foreign markets that are divided into several groups according to their importance regarding promotion. SANA