UAE-Based 121 Living Launches My Syria, the Country's First Tourism Super App
UAE startup 121 Living has launched My Syria, an integrated tourism, lifestyle and payment app supported by Syria's Ministry of Tourism.
121 Living, a UAE-based startup, has launched My Syria. The company describes the app as Syria's first integrated super app for tourism, lifestyle services and digital payments. The startup was founded by Rami Kaiem, Feras Kaiem, Waseem Qudmani, and Kinan Madi. My Syria launched with strategic support from the Ministry of Tourism and under the patronage of H.E. Mazen Al-Salhani, Syria's Minister of Tourism.
Eight services in one place
The app currently integrates eight services. Hotel bookings, restaurants, transportation, tourist attractions, experiences, and food delivery are available now. Digital payments run through the platform. 121 Living plans to expand My Syria to more than 40 verified tourism and hospitality providers in the country.
The word verified matters. The startup is not building an open directory; it is curating the supply side. For a traveller arriving in a market with rapidly growing visitor numbers, a short list of checked providers is more useful than an endless one.
The lifestyle-services part of the description reaches beyond tourism. 121 Living has framed My Syria as the first phase of a digital platform, not as a standalone travel booking tool. That distinction explains why payments are part of the core design rather than an afterthought.
Cross-border payments
My Syria is the first platform in Syria to support cross-border digital payments. It accepts Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. That allows international visitors to book and pay digitally within a single application, using the cards and wallets they already carry.
The payment piece is the real difference. Most travel apps work because the payment rails already exist underneath them. Here, the app is supplying the rails as well as the bookings, and it is doing so for international cards that have not previously been connected inside Syria.
That also shapes the target user. International visitors can enter the country without changing how they pay. Syrian expatriates arriving with foreign cards fit the same pattern. The app treats the traveller's home payment method as the default, rather than forcing local cash or local cards on them.
Arrivals are climbing
The launch arrives as visitor counts surge. Syria received 3.52 million visitor arrivals in the first half of 2026, against 1.67 million in the first half of 2025. That is a 111% increase, meaning arrivals more than doubled year on year. The figures include Syrian expatriates, regional visitors, and international tourists.
Mazen Al-Salhani said digital transformation is a strategic priority for the Ministry. He described the launch as a demonstration of government-private sector partnership. The Ministry's digital transformation roadmap focuses on private-sector participation, innovation, and technology. My Syria sits directly inside that plan: the state supplies support and access, and a private startup builds and operates the product.
First phase
My Syria is the first phase of 121 Living's vision. Eight services today is a starting point, not a ceiling. The next test is whether the provider network can grow to the 40-plus target and keep cross-border payments working at that scale. If it does, the app will have become the default entry point for international tourists arriving in Syria.
