Market activity in Lebanon improves 30% after three slow years though no comeback from Gulf visitors

As Safir newspaper published a report about the commercial activity which is picking up, albeit slowly, after the formation of the new government and the stable security situation.  According to merchants in Hamra, Mar Elias, Jdaideh and Zalka, that As Safir visited, activity has increased by some 30% compared to the same period a year ago and especially after three years of regular decline during which tens of shops were closed and thousands of workers were discharged in order to reduce operational cost and as a result of a 60% overall decrease in commercial activity (according to the sources of the Beirut merchants association).
Despite this small increase in commercial activities, the heads of the merchants associations in Hamra, Mar Elias, Jdaideh and Zalka noted that they have yet to see an effective comeback of Gulf visitors although many GCC countries have formally lifted their travel ban on Lebanon.  They added that the commercial activity declined drastically in the past few years and any current improvement is small compared to the previous decline that affected small and large establishments.  Merchants hoped for a speedy recovery of the economic activity as well as the rapid comeback of GCC tourists during Ramadan.
Source: Al-Safir 17 June 2014