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In its Saturday’s issue, Al Akhbar daily highlighted the success story of Souk el Tayyib farmer’s market launched from the heart of the Lebanese capital back in 2004. Describing it as a unique venture, the newspaper wrote that Souk el Tayyib has promoted the culture of healthy eating and encouraged local agricultural products. This undertaking has generated similar activities across the country aimed to help small farmers and producers to market their goods directly to consumers through weekly encounters between rural smallholders and interested customers. Founded by Kamal Muzawaq, Souk el Tayyib spotlights the traditional cuisine in Lebanon with an attempt to revive it and empower small farmers/producers, chefs and housewives of all backgrounds and affiliations, Al Akhbar wrote. With the motto, ‘Make food not war’, Souk el Tayyib started to expand to kick off, three years later, cooking festivals inspiring people to visit the different villages to taste real Lebanese food and explore rural areas. To close, Al Akhbar mentioned that between June 5 and June 8, Souk el Tayyib will be celebrating its 15th anniversary through diverse activities in different Beiruti themes. (Al Akhbar, June 1, 2019)

The minister of tourism Avedis Guidanian said Lebanon has become a distinctive location on the global tourism map through the world’s renowned travel and tourism agencies. Guidanian, who was speaking during the concluding day of the Third Forum for Visit Lebanon in Beirut, addressed the representatives of the Arab and foreign offices saying: "For the first time, you are witnessing a new experience by visiting the country and exploring its touristic, archeological, historical and cultural landmarks.” “This,” he went on to say, “allows us to be the starting point of tourism in the Middle East and the main touristic destination in the region.” For his part, Visit Lebanon chairperson, George Freiha, said the forum is more like a promotional campaign on the global arena, for it gives us the opportunity to communicate with 50,000 agencies and tour operators. Nearly 150,000 travel and tourism companies, as well as conference and festival organizers from about 40 countries around the world, have participated and concluded around 3578 business meetings with the Lebanese private sector, at 38% increase rate from the second forum. (Al Diyar, June 1, 2019)

The Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes, Patisseries and Night Clubs yesterday handed the tourism minister, Avedis Guidanian, a copy of a report on food safety it prepared in coordination with GWR Consulting and Boecker. The report has shown that since the launch of the food safety campaign back in 2014 and until 2018, the sector’s indicator raised to 86% from 78%, which is satisfactory. The report also indicated an increased compliance with food safety standards and specifications, and a better awareness by consumers, workers in the industry and the entire food chain, resulting in fast-tracked success of the above campaign. (for the complete report, kindly refer to the link: https://bit.ly/2HHs0ph). Guidanian pledged to follow up the release of the executive decrees related to the food safety bill, pointing out that the Lebanese cuisine has extensively improved aided by said law. Consequently, Guidanian said, this contributes to attracting tourists, anticipating a promising tourism season compared to the past 7 years. The minister revealed that he visits restaurants on periodic basis to inspect the prices preventing any violations or manipulation of tourists to this effect. The minister also talked about the hotel occupancy fee approved by the state budget, stressing that it is an essential step for securing revenues for his ministry, as well as for the establishment of the tourism authority aimed to promote Lebanon’s image in the world. (Al Diyar, May 29, 2019)