Syrian President Bashar Assad received in Damascus Saturday, 6 October 2001, HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin AbdulAziz Alsaud chairman of Kingdom Holding Company. Alwaleed updated President Assad on the Damascus Four Seasons hotel project currently under development by himself and the Syrian government.
From the Presidential Palace Prince Alwaleed headed for the Four Seasons project site. His Highness and Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Miro laid the corner stone. HRH marked the ceremonial occasion with a speech. Prince Alwaleed said the late president Hafez Assad had inspired him to invest in Syria. “During one of my meetings with President Hafez Assad, bless his soul, he said: ‘Son, how come you have not yet invested in Syria?’ These words were the true beginning of the project,” added Alwaleed.
His Highness stressed the need for an increased Arab role in world economy and called upon Syria and other Arab countries for more openness. Prince Alwaleed also appealed for an inter-Arab market calling it “the real solution to economic and social crisis choking our Arab communities.”
In January 1998 Prince Alwaleed had signed a contract with the Syrian government for the development and construction of the first Four Seasons hotel in Syria. Estimates place total project cost at $100 million. The project is being constructed on a 13,000m2 parcel of land.
Back in December 1997 the Syrian Higher Authority on Tourism approved Prince Alwaleed’s bid to develop a hotel in the capital. Prince Alwaleed bested several competitors for this project, which took over two years to negotiate.
The new hotel is located in the heart of the capital and will house numerous amenities. It is a welcomed addition to the tourism industry in Damascus featuring over 300 luxury rooms, suites and fully serviced furnished apartments along with international cuisine restaurants, a fitness club and other amenities such as adjacent upscale shopping.
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