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Syria Rolls Out First National Tourism Discount Card
The Tamayouz program launches in early 2026, offering discounts of up to 50% as Damascus tests a new push for domestic travel.
Syria has introduced its first nationwide tourism discount card, a move aimed at jumpstarting domestic travel and tightening coordination with private-sector operators.
The “Tamayouz” card, announced by the Syrian Ministry of Tourism, promises discounts of up to 50% at more than 70 partner establishments in its initial rollout. The program is scheduled to go live in early 2026, covering hotels, resorts, chalets and travel agencies, with offers refreshed monthly.
Tourism Minister Mazen Al Salhani said the card is designed to formalize how discounts are issued across the sector, starting with domestic tourism. Access in the first phase will be limited to selected government employees, before expanding into a broader system that blends ministry-backed offers with private-sector deals.
“This card reflects our commitment to establishing a structured culture of tourism discount programs, which represents a key component of any modern tourism sector,” Al Salhani said.
The ministry is positioning Tamayouz as more than a pricing tool. Officials say the program will serve as a platform for deeper public–private cooperation, with a target of expanding the partner network to around 300 establishments by the end of 2026. Participating businesses will be required to apply approved discounts daily, including during official holidays.
A digital component is also planned. Alongside the physical card, a SmartApp — initially web-based — will provide an interactive map of participating venues, a points-based rewards system, and instant discount redemption via barcode or QR code. Technical support will be available to cardholders as the system rolls out.
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Al Salhani said the ministry also wants to draw established international discount programs into the Syrian market as part of a broader effort to align with global tourism practices. “We encourage leading global experiences to enter the Syrian market to spread this international culture,” he said.
For now, the focus remains inward. However, the structure of Tamayouz mirrors loyalty and discount platforms already common across the region, marking a tentative step toward standardizing offers and rebuilding tourism demand under tighter state oversight.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
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The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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