Old Damascus Attracts Hotel Investors - Video

A video by Zaina Erham, produced during an IWPR workshop for young Syrian journalists held in Damascus, November 2009.

The old city of Damascus is undergoing major changes. Amid a tourism boom, investors have turned many old houses into boutique hotels but local people are worried that the traditional neighbourhoods are changing.

Already there are about 12 hotels with 200 hotel rooms in the old city and the number is set to rise to 35 hotels by 2012. The trend is making people like Richard feel like strangers in their own city.