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Luxurious hotels expected to reopen in Beirut in the near future

Emirati businessman Khalaf al-Habtoor announced in a post on X that he will be making new investments in Lebanon as soon as a new cabinet is formed.

Luxurious hotels expected to reopen in Beirut in the near future

The Smallville Hotel in Badaro. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/L'Orient Le-Jour)

BEIRUT —  Luxurious hotels are expected to reopen in Beirut in the near future amid the "improvement of economic conditions," Pierre Ashkar, head of the Federation of Tourism Syndicates and the hotel owners’ syndicate, told L'Orient Today on Friday.

According to Ashkar, there is a general feeling that the cease-fire, which was reached in late November following more than 13 months of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, will hold.

On Thursday, Emirati businessman Khalaf al-Habtoor, who owns, among other things, two hotels in Beirut, announced in a post on X that he will be making new investments in Lebanon as soon as a new cabinet is formed.

Habtoor said stability is needed to secure investment, adding that Joseph Aoun's election as president and Nawaf Salam's appointment as prime minister are signs that "Lebanon is moving toward stability."

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In an interview with Arab News last week, Habtoor revealed plans to renovate Habtoor Land, an amusement park he opened in the early 2000s in Jamhour, Baabda district, and had since abandoned. He also intends to revamp the Habtoor Mall, located near his hotel in Beirut, which closed at the start of the economic crisis in 2019.

On Jan. 14, the Saudi investment company, Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), owned by Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, and the prince himself, announced that the Four Seasons hotel in Beirut will reopen in early 2026.

According to Ashkar, some hotels remain closed, like the Monroe hotel in Downtown Beirut, while others, like Phoenicia, have not completely opened. "This should also change [to the better]," he said.

Many hotels have remained closed since the 2020 Beirut port explosion, compounded by the economic crisis that began in 2019. Despite plans to reopen earlier, the outbreak of war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, followed by rising tensions in southern Lebanon that culminated in war in late September last year, delayed the official reopening of these establishments.

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There are 500 luxury rooms in Beirut and 40,000 throughout the country, according to Ashkar. The sector struggled to capitalize on the post-COVID tourism recovery, facing competition from Airbnb rentals and the tendency of diaspora visitors to stay with family. For years, the hotel industry has been hoping for the return of wealthy Gulf tourists to Lebanon to help the sector regain its footing.

BEIRUT —  Luxurious hotels are expected to reopen in Beirut in the near future amid the "improvement of economic conditions," Pierre Ashkar, head of the Federation of Tourism Syndicates and the hotel owners’ syndicate, told L'Orient Today on Friday.According to Ashkar, there is a general feeling that the cease-fire, which was reached in late November following more than 13 months of...