Lebanon is quietly confident of breaking through the 2m mark for tourist arrivals this year and setting a new record both for visitor numbers and revenue, but the government is being urged to do more to ensure the sector’s growth.
Tourism is one of the key sectors of the Lebanese economy, representing some 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and – according to the World Council of Travel and Tourism (WTTC) – accounting for 38 percent of employment, a figure it expects to increase to 42 percent over the next decade.
Last year, just over 1.85 million tourists went through passport control at Lebanon’s ports of entry, a 39 percent increase on 2008 that smashed the previous best of 1.4 million, posted in 1974, a year before the outbreak of the 15-year-long civil war.
The recovery will be given further momentum if the tourism sector meets the high expectations held for it in 2010 by the Ministry of Tourism, which predicts that arrivals could top 2.25 million this year.
To date, this forecast looks like being fulfilled, with some 964,000 visitors arriving in the first six months of the year, a 26.6 percent rise on the 761,415 tourists in the same period of 2009. The trend appears to be continuing in to the second half of the year, with July arrivals up 11.58 percent on the same month in 2009, with 361,934 visitors landing, according to Tourism Ministry figures released in mid August.
However, there are some threats to that trend, most notably tensions with neighbouring Israel. At the beginning of August, an exchange of gunfire between Israeli and Lebanese soldiers left four dead and a number of others wounded, and briefly saw reserves from both sides being moved towards the border in the south.
Not surprisingly, Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud took pains to play down the spat and a heated exchange of words that followed, saying there was no risk the tensions could escalate into war and that the incident would not harm the tourism trade.
"Tourists are used to such events and I don’t think that they will want to end their vacation in Lebanon because of what happened," he told local media.
The minister’s comments came after a number of foreign countries, including some in the Arab world, warned their citizens to reconsider traveling to Lebanon and to take extra precautions if doing so.
Lebanon still has to contend with the long-standing impression, dating from the civil war and reinforced by the Israeli invasion of 2006, that it remains an unsafe place to visit. Changing this could take time and a sustained period of uninterrupted peace.
While some tourists may be wary of coming to Lebanon, investors in the tourism sector are not, with around $3 billion worth of projects currently being implemented across the country. In Beirut alone, there are some 1200 new hotel rooms being added to the existing short-term accommodation stock, with the total number of rooms expected in all of Lebanon to rise from the current 16,000 to 21,000 by 2011, according to Tourism Ministry figures.
Though investments from the private sector are on the rise, they are not being matched by government funding, a problem that could harm the tourism industry down the track. Road links to some of Lebanon’s most popular and scenic sites outside of Beirut are poorly maintained, making for extended traveling time and a bumpy ride. While booming visitor numbers strain water supplies, especially in the summer months, many hotels, resorts and tourism attractions need to operate their own electricity. While many tourists might not mind roughing it a bit, most would still like a hot shower and a cold drink after doing so.
If the Lebanese tourism industry is to meet the predictions of global travel bodies and become a bigger employer and the economy’s driving force, the government may need to try harder to smooth the sector’s path.
