Economic situation in Lebanon improves during al Adha with good prospects for the future of tourism

In its issue of today, Ad Diyar published a report on the economic situation in Lebanon.  The newspaper noted that the economic stalemate was shaken during the Eid al Adha especially in the tourism sector.  This improvement however, only lasted for a few days and returned to its usual condition shortly after the Eid ended in the Arab and Gulf countries.  According to the General Secretary of the Union of Syndicates of Touristic institutions in Lebanon, Jean Beyruti, hotels occupancy rates was between 80-85% during the Eid.  He added that this is a good turnout.  The General Secretary of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners in Lebanon, Wadih Kanaan, noted for his part that the average occupancy in hotels in Beirut during Adha reached 70% and reached 65% in mountain resorts where festivals were taking place with 55% during weekdays while shooting up to 100% during weekends.  The situation was similar in restaurants according to the president of the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes and Pastry Shops, Tony al Rami, who added that the situation was average during the holidays and focused on internal visitors as well as returnees from the Gulf.  Rami also pointed out to the upcoming Beirut Restaurant Festival which will be hosted in Beirut on September 30th.  The event is organized by the Syndicate and will take place in Mar Mikhail over two days with the participation of 300 exhibitors. As such, the tourism sector has shown that it is the major dynamo for many other sectors, thus indirectly contributing 18% of the GNP and 9% directly. In addition, the WTTC expects that the direct and indirect contribution of the sector will increase by 6.1% annually and that is up to 2023 when its contribution to GDP will increase to USD 20.5 billion by the end of 2023.  This is expected to increase direct and indirect employment opportunities in the direct and indirect sectors of travel and tourism by 3.7% annually and so as to reach a total of 375,000 jobs at the end of 2024. (Al- Diyar, September 16, 2016)