The minister of tourism in the caretaker government, Avedis Guidanian, and minister Pierre Raffoul launched yesterday the ‘Faraya on the beach’ festival 2018 opening the third season from July 26 to 29. Guidanian praised similar touristic initiatives in towns and villages, particularly religious tourism. “When the sea comes to Faraya, this means bringing people from the coast up to the mountains, and Faraya is a famous summer resort town,” Guidanian stated. He stressed that the 4-day festival designates success, especially that it is not an expensive destination for visitors and vacationers. Guidanian revealed that his ministry inaugurated last week two recreational and conference tourism sites. “Through the contracted company, we are able to communicate with leading tour operators and travel agencies around the globe and to ask them to enlist Lebanon on their itineraries so that tourists learn how to spend their time in our country,” the minister said. “We are signing Faraya up on the ministry’s two websites so that tourists can visit the area and contemplate its natural and religious landmarks,” he concluded. (Al Diyar, June 7, 2018)