As Idlib becomes a tourist destination, business booms and prices soar

IDLIB — Idlib province has become a tourist destination for Syrians coming from provinces previously controlled by the ousted Assad regime. Curious visitors, surprised by the economic, commercial and recreational development they find in an area once known mainly for hosting millions of displaced people, are driving an economic boom. 

Tourism and travel offices across Syria are organizing one-day “shopping trips” to Idlib, boosting local markets in an area of more than four million residents, half of whom are internally displaced. Many visitors converge on Dana city, in the northern Idlib countryside, where most commercial agencies, shopping and entertainment centers are located. 

On December 19, Ghassoun al-Saqa drove 45 kilometers with her two daughters from Aleppo city to shop in Dana, where prices are “25 percent lower than Aleppo’s markets,” she told Syria Direct. The “urban and commercial renaissance” she found there came as a surprise, she said. 

For years, areas of northwestern Syria—like Idlib—controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Syrian opposition forces were cut off from the rest of Syria. When Assad fell on December 8, frontlines disappeared and Idlib became a sought-after destination. By the middle of the month, “severe traffic” in the province made it “difficult to get around or park a car,” al-Saqa said. Still, she plans to “continue to come back to shop.”

Well-known content creators from formerly regime-controlled areas visited Idlib shortly after Assad fell, posting pictures and videos from its markets and main attractions. Their posts encouraged others to visit, who passed the word along. 

As luck would have it, Mahmoud al-Daher opened his Olio Cafe and Restaurant on Dana’s Malls Street on the day Assad fell. He began building it in February 2024 on four dunums of land he rented for $600 a month, planning to serve locals and Turkish visitors.

The commercial activity Idlib saw since December 8 “completely overturned the expectations,” al-Daher told Syria Direct. In a single day, his restaurant served 1,500 people, he recalled. 

Exploration and shopping

Curiosity drove Mahmoud Kharbatli to make the 290-kilometer journey from Damascus to Idlib in December. When he arrived, Kharbatli found cars “bearing license plates from all Syrian provinces, which is reassuring,” he told Syria Direct. In Idlib, he found a “different picture” from the narrative conveyed by regime media in recent years.

Entering Dana city, it seemed to Kharbatli that he was entering “a festival or holiday market, from the extreme crowding.” Strange, too, he found markets open until late at night, with electricity flowing 24 hours a day, unlike the hours-long electricity rationing in many parts of Damascus.

Cars in Idlib bear license plates from Hama (left), Aleppo (center) and Idlib (right), 21/12/2024 (Mahmoud al-Shamali/Syria Direct)

Kharbatli had decided to visit Idlib based on the experiences of many friends in Damascus, who “told me about the flourishing and development compared to the capital, in terms of commercial centers, economic activity and restaurants,” he said. “We were deprived of” many products available in Idlib’s markets, he added. 

“What I saw impressed me,” Kharbatli said. “The heavy reliance on solar energy, the variety of goods, the active markets and most importantly the availability of electricity and its use in shop decorations.”

Most new customers in Idlib come as part of tourist groups, which are coordinated with the management of al-Hamra Mall in Dana. Shop owners are informed when these groups will arrive, Muhammad al-Rahmoun, who owns an electronics and mobile phone store in the mall, told Syria Direct. Sales continue until 11 o’clock at night, he added.

Al-Rahmoun estimated his sales increased by 90 percent after the regime fell. Most customers from other provinces are “surprised that smartwatches are available in Idlib at low prices compared to where they are,” he said.

Ziyad Abu Ahmad, who manages a showroom for Vestel—a Turkish appliance manufacturer—at al-Hamra Mall, said his sales have “increased three times over what they were before the regime fell.” 

Increased commercial activity is not limited to retail selling. “There is wholesale demand,” Abu Ahmad added. “Some traders even asked us to open branches in other provinces, such as Tartous, Aleppo and Hama.” Currently, the company is working on “equipping three showrooms in Aleppo,” he told Syria Direct. 

While visiting Dana, Muhammad al-Maghrebi, 27, from Aleppo city’s Nayrab neighborhood, bought an electric mixer for $10. “A lower quality mixer costs $15 in Aleppo,” he told Syria Direct. 

Before the regime fell, electrical appliances cost around four times less in Idlib than other provinces, Abu Ahmad, who shipped appliances to Aleppo at the time, said. For example, a 1.5-ton energy-efficient Vestel air conditioner cost $350 in the Dana showroom, but more than $1,000 in Aleppo.

Customers are drawn by greater quality and variety in Idlib, as “devices from international and Turkish brands—which were prohibited in the deposed regime’s areas due to American and European sanctions—are available,” Abu Ahmad added. 

How long could it last?

With increased commercial activity and demand in Idlib, prices are going up for local residents. The cost of an excellent quality solar panel, for example, has increased from $70 to $95. Many electronic devices saw a similar increase, while demand for some food items is also up, Syria Direct’s reporter observed. 

The prices of some goods “increased by 20 or 30 percent due to enormous demand and exploitation,” Abu Ahmad said. Some goods ran short in Idlib’s markets before imports from Turkey resumed. 

The prices of European cars have more than doubled, especially for cars manufactured in 2010 and later. Foreign models such as a 2012 Hyundai Tucson, for example, sold for between $5,000 and $6,000 before the regime fell. After, its price skyrocketed to $13,000 before dropping slightly and stabilizing between $9,000 and $10,000, Ahmad Gharibi, a car dealer in Idlib, said. This car, with the same specifications and date of manufacture, sold in regime areas for around $35,000. 

“Prices in Idlib’s markets have not reached this level before,” Gharibi told Syria Direct. High demand, with “a hundred cars sold a day” and “traders and customers spending with all ease due to the significantly lower prices compared to cars in other provinces” drove the increase, he said. 

Increased commerce and tourism in Idlib may last “between six and nine months, after which it will gradually decline, especially as price differences disappear in the future,” Abu Ahmad said. He anticipates “the formation of the new Syrian government, and the economic renaissance spreading to the rest of the provinces” will cut Idlib’s market back to size.

However, Idlib “still leads the way,” economic researcher Manaf Quman told Syria Direct. “Whoever wants to compete with it from other regions must have the same variety and prices.” If similar commercial centers are opened elsewhere, “demand for Dana’s malls will decline, assuming they don’t offer incentives and discounts and compete to keep bringing in customers and visitors,” he added.

“In the short term, one-to-three years, Idlib will remain a favored shopping destination. In the long term, three-to-five years, we could see heated competition,” Quman said. Idlib and its traders “have experience and funding that allows them to stay competitive over the long term,” he added. 

Idlib province, and Dana city in particular, underwent an urban and commercial revival starting in 2021. This development created an infrastructure for commercial investment that is significant at a national level. 

Read more: Another side of Idlib: Daring investment in ‘huge’ commercial projects

Idlib, a marginalized province before the Syrian revolution began in 2011, has become an economic pioneer, Kharbatli said. He expects “its experiment will be transferred to other provinces, especially Aleppo, since it is the industrial capital and is close to Idlib and its markets.” 

Al-Daher, for his part, expects Idlib will remain a “touristic and economic” destination for Syrians due to the “appropriate and solid” infrastructure and availability of “parks, restaurants and entertainment centers.”

This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.