The Tourism Awareness as a Tool to Activate Cultural Tourism in Syria

Abstract

Developing tourism awareness is one of the most important pillars that contribute to activating the tourism movement in general، and developing different tourism patterns، and among those patterns is cultural tourism، which contributes to preparing a society that has awareness of the importance of archaeological sites and its cultural heritage، and knowledge of the important economic benefits and job opportunities that benefit members of society. The research aims to shed light on tourism awareness، its importance and components، in addition to the concept of cultural tourism and its importance، and clarifying the relationship between tourism awareness and cultural tourism. Many tourist sites in Syria have been exposed to factors of vandalism and looting due to the weakness and lack of awareness of the local community about the importance of these sites. To measure the tourism awareness of the Syrian community، the descriptive approach was relied upon in an analytical manner to reach the research results. Statistical analysis was used by publishing a questionnaire on Google Drive، and the sample size reached 336. The research results showed the necessity of developing tourism awareness and the necessity of paying attention to cultural tourism due to its role in preserving the cultural heritage of peoples، and that there is an important relationship between the awareness of the local community and the tourist with the importance of tourist sites، and also when awareness is available، it leads to activating the tourism movement in Syria. The research suggests the necessity of continuing the study on establishing a model for tourism awareness in Syria at the local، regional and international levels.