Tourism

Tourists have long been attracted to Lebanon, whether to its sunny beaches along the Mediterranean, its skiing resorts in the Hebron mountains that gave Lebanon the name “Little Switzerland,” or to the bright lights of Beirut, the most cosmopolitan center in the Middle East. Fifteen years of civil war and the turmoil of 2005-08 certainly dimmed its popularity. But that peace has “broken out,” Lebanon, and especially Beirut, are gaining back their tourists.

In 2009, the New York Times featured as its choice
for No. 1 among its 44 top-rated tourist destinations
for the year.

The figures bear this out. In 2009, Lebanon posted the highest rate of growth in tourist arrivals in the world—a stunning 39%. Of course, this was off of a low year, but the growth continues; for the first quarter of 2010, growth over 2009 is at 32%.

The number of tourists arrivals in the first quarter of 2010—393,212—is an all-time record. And that’s not the only record. According to Dr. Fadi Abboud, Minister of Tourism, “On average, tourists in this country spend $3000 per visit, and this ranks among the highest in the world.”
Mr. Weinlaender, General Manager of Intercontinental Phoenicia Beirut hotel is planning to tap into exactly that market.

“Our incredible performance in 2009 despite the global economic downturn was very pleasing to us. Usually in difficult times owners are not immediately investing but as a GM I have been very fortunate because our owners have made substantial investments. We have started and will continue making significant renovations.  We have also opened a new poor bar with shisha and additionally, we are renovating all of our rooms and suites (to be finished by the end of 2011).  We also are completely renovating our lobby and front office with famous interior designers from London and HBA. We are going to re-open our nightclub and we have closed our fine dining roof-top restaurant to re-open soon and renovated our ballrooms. By 2011-2012 we will really be like a brand new hotel. We want to remain competitive.”

Tourism already constitutes 23% of Lebanon’s GDP. With such record growth, one might think that the market is saturated. But Minister of Tourism, Dr. Fadi Abboud, believes that there is still plenty of room to grow further—and he has a lot of ideas about how to achieve it.
Organized packages are one idea. “Only 3% of our tourism comes from packages and organized tours, while the rest of the people book their trips independently,” Abboud points out.

“I am working for sustainable tourism…In the off season, it is easy to obtain a room outside of Beirut for a reasonable price and this is do-able… [but] we have not planned this properly because some times hotels are not open every day of the year. We are working with hotel owners to increase their days of operation and bring them off season business.” Another way is to increase tourism outside Beirut. “We are trying to attract tourists outside of Beirut because we don’t want to be known for only our night life, because we have much more to offer.”

But Abboud is most upset about what Lebanon’s tourism could be—if only it were promoted!

“The Syrians are spending five times what we are spending on the promotional side and this is ridiculous…we haven’t been playing the game like others.” “We need a plan” he says, and proposes a promotions board involving the private sector “to promote the country across all domains.”

One can only imagine the future growth of the tourism sector when the country begins promoting itself as a tourist destination, organized tours begin arriving, and hotels stay open all year…