Lebanon tourism sector struggles through crisis, war

BROUMANA, Lebanon. - A political crisis in Lebanon has dealt a blow to its tourism industry, compounding the woes of a sector which lost its 2006 peak summer season to war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, the tourism minister said on Tuesday.

The sector accounted for nine percent of Lebanon’s national income in 2005, Joseph Sarkis said, and would have climbed to 12 percent in 2006 if not for the July-August war.

Lebanon’s reputation abroad, which had slowly recovered since the civil war, had again been undermined by conflict.

"We have not been able to benefit from this important sector, which should be Lebanon’s oil," he said Sarkis said that since the war the political standoff, which has at times sparked lethal street clashes, had caused a 39 percent fall of visitors to Lebanon in January and hotel occupancy rates were currently well below the seasonal average.

"We have a wonderful country but we are committing suicide," Sarkis said at his home in the village of Broumana in the mountains overlooking Beirut.

Much of central Beirut has been blocked off since December by an open-ended anti-government protest. Rebuilt from the ruins of the 1975-1990 civil war, central Beirut’s shopping district and cafes have been a draw for Arab summer holiday makers.

Sarkis said bookings for this year were so far "not at all encouraging", but added that tourists from Arab countries and expatriot Lebanese would quickly plan trips to Lebanon if the political standoff was resolved.

Sarkis said that despite current instability, he expected at least 1 million visitors in 2007 — around the level of 2006 when Lebanon had been on track for a record tourism year before war erupted in July between Hezbollah and Israel.

"If it hadn’t been for the war and events in Lebanon, we would have finished 2006 with 1.7 or 1.8 million tourists — a growth rate of 10 or 15 percent a year," he said.