The editorial staff of Los Observadores investigated the trips of several European YouTubers to Syrian territory. There images of walks, trips to destroyed areas and tours accompanied by official guides are mixed with the official versions of the conflict. In addition, it was identified that these trips were sponsored by the deputy ministry of tourism of the Bashar al-Assad regime. The content creators assure that they do not have any type of censorship and that they cover the expenses by their own means.
Spend your next summer vacation in Syria! That’s the message from at least a dozen Western travel “influencers” sharing videos showing the Middle Eastern country devastated by years of civil war and still divided into government-controlled and rebel-held zones.
They claim to show the world “the Syria that the media doesn’t teach you”, as in this video British vlogger Benjamin Rich, known to his 3.8 million subscribers under his YouTube channel name Bald and Bankrupt. The video, to date, already has almost 4 million views.
@gus1thego is a YouTube channel of Danish content creator Gustav Rosted. There the images and videos of trips around the world are present. Some videos alluding to trips to Syria also caught the attention of Los Observadores.
Through his channel, 18 videos recorded in Syria have been published. In these, the youtuber is questioned about the security, nightlife, food and transportation of cities in Syria, all territories under government control. Apolitical content in which he expresses a central message: “the country is not what you think, it is very welcoming.”
In April 2022, Rich and his government-authorized translator and guide traveled to various Syrian cities under the control of Damascus. In the video, he is seen attending a soccer match in the capital, visiting the historic citadel of Aleppo and checking out a bombed-out hotel in Maaloula.
Most recently, on February 13, 2023, two British vloggers who run the travel YouTube channel Dabble and Travel (with 227,000 subscribers) joined the long list of content creators who were drawn to visit Syrian controlled Syria. regime. In an Instagram story taken in Damascus, they can be seen smiling with two Syrian guides in front of a sunset and a Syrian Baathist flag. You can also see one of the guides in Benjamin Rich’s video.
Travel content purporting to be ”apolitical”
These videos aim to show a tourist destination about to recover the ten million annual visitors it received before 2011. It is not a coincidence: this narrative reflects the rhetoric of the regime, which intends to reap the economic benefits of tourism.
Bassam Al Ahmad, director of the human rights NGO ‘Syrians For Truth and Justice’, explains:
Some Western YouTubers visit Syria because they are attracted to adventure tourism. For them, it is a challenge to create controversial content and increase interaction. Others come with the aim of transmitting official propaganda. They are invited by the regime, often through intermediaries close to the regime, and they only visit authorized places and venues. The chic bars and restaurants that appear in the videos are only frequented by a small part of the wealthy population, while the 90% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Rosted, who has nearly 300,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel, has posted at least 18 videos, including one titled “I was tortured in Syria.”
A Syrian Facebook user wrote on Rosted’s page: “The life in Syria that you are trying to portray represents 1% of the population, as the other 99% of the population lives in poverty on less than 15 euros a month.”
Rosted told the France 24 Observers team that he understood the reactions of Syrians on the Internet:
There is always a lot of criticism when you go to these countries. And I fully understand that there are those criticisms because some people have to leave the country, especially in Syria.
But I’m just a guy who likes to travel to talk to people on the ground. I’m not interested in politics. I like to talk to the local people. I have done interviews in many countries. So my trips are just to connect with people and not for anything political.
A tour guide close to the Vice Minister of Tourism
On July 30, 2022, Giath Al Farrah, Syrian Deputy Minister of Tourism, stated in an interview with a local radio station that his ministry had decided to make it easier for people with large followings on social media, such as YouTubers, to obtain visas to visit Syria. In his opinion, these influential people could promote Syria by sharing their experiences on social media.
Content creators are issued visas. However, this is not allowed for journalists who wish to travel independently or as part of a mission.
The Observers team was able to use open source tools to identify the guide as Rami Nawaya and find his social media accounts. Nawaya claims to work as a translator and tour guide for several Syrian travel agencies, including Marrota Tourism and Travel, according to his Facebook page and other platforms.
On Facebook, Nawaya also claims to be related to Giath Al Farrah, the aforementioned Syrian Deputy Minister of Tourism.
Many guides, same content
Gustav Rosted claimed that he “did not get in touch with Nawaya” but met him “spontaneously” in Aleppo, adding that Nawaya was not his guide. Rosted was accompanied by another guide named Khaldoun Alamy, who runs the agency ‘Golden Target Tours’. Alamy has also accompanied other vloggers in Syria, such as Eva zu Beckfrom Poland, and Xavier Taychell Blanchardefrom the United Kingdom, since June 2019.
Eva zu Beck assured the France 24 Observers team: “I was not invited by anyone from Syria and I paid for the trip out of my own pocket […] What I posted was 100% my own opinions with no direction or censorship from anyone in any way. I found my guide on the recommendation of a friend.”
‘Golden Team Tourism’ is another agency that offers private trips to influencers. It is led by Fadi Assi and Gaidaa Ayoub, both of whom are close to Rami Nawaya, according to photos posted on their Facebook account. In 2019 and 2022, two American vloggers, Drew Binsky (with 3.6 million subscribers) and Thomas Brag (with 8 million subscribers), were accompanied by this agency.
Despite our multiple requests, Rami Nawaya of Marrota Travel and Tourism declined to respond. The Deputy Minister of Tourism Giath Al Farrah and the Syrian Ministry of Tourism did not respond to our messages either. We contacted all the vloggers, guides and agencies mentioned in this article, and only Gustav Rosted and Eva zu Beck agreed to talk to us.
Text adapted to Spanish from the original written in English by Mahmoud Naffakh.
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