A Toronto man is distributing 30,000 flyers in Syria, promoting the $25,000 reward he and his family are offering for information about his missing sister.

Nicole Vienneau, a 32-year-old from Vancouver, was travelling through the Middle Eastern country when she went missing on March 31. She was last seen leaving her hotel room near the western city of Hama to go on a day trip to the ancient ruins known as Dead Cities, in northwest Syria.

Nicole Vienneau, 32, was last seen in Syria on March 31.

Her brother, Matthew Vienneau, hopes a reward will entice Syrians to come forward with information. He and his family pooled together the money and placed it in a trust fund.

"We needed to get more information and we haven't been able to find anyone willing to snitch on their neighbour or come forward and risk the police," he said, explaining that in Syria, some people might be leery of coming forward for fear of being mistreated or mistaken as suspects themselves.

"We had to come up with an idea to get these people to come forward. We wanted to create a little bit of a buzz and from that, hopefully get that little bit we need to find Nicole."

He said people in Syria's tourist areas seem to know of his sister's disappearance, but outside of those areas, her case has not been well publicized.

He figured the best way to get news out about the reward was to hire people to distribute flyers to homes and people across Syria, concentrating primarily on the Hama area.

Matthew and his sister's boyfriend, Gary Schweitzer, travelled to Syria together in May to search for Nicole. They retraced her steps, but clues were scarce.

They did find her knapsack in her hotel room. It contained most of her belongings and a journal that outlined what she did in the days leading up to her disappearance.

Nicole, an experienced traveller, had backpacked to remote regions around the world over the past 10 years.

She grew up in Toronto and moved to Vancouver after graduating from high school. Her family is still in Toronto.