Travelers at Beirut airport on June 16, in front of a sign displaying the cancellation of several flights. (Credit: Ali Baalbaki/L’Orient-Le Jour)
"We had a wedding ... but the groom is dead." Pierre Achkar, president of the hotel union, used this Lebanese expression to sum up the state of Lebanon’s tourism sector after the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war on June 12.Just a week earlier, the season looked promising, but now forecasts have turned much more pessimistic. "Expectations are no longer what they were a week or 10 days ago," he sighed."War is tourism's number one enemy," he added. "In such conditions, tourists are afraid. Lebanese from the diaspora can still decide to return to the country, but given the context, some of them will not make the trip." Read more Hacking Lebanese Politics #8: Why did the UAE lift its Lebanon travel ban? DisillusionmentThe disillusionment is especially significant because the signing of a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel in...
"We had a wedding ... but the groom is dead." Pierre Achkar, president of the hotel union, used this Lebanese expression to sum up the state of Lebanon’s tourism sector after the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war on June 12.Just a week earlier, the season looked promising, but now forecasts have turned much more pessimistic. "Expectations are no longer what they were a week or 10 days ago," he sighed."War is tourism's number one enemy," he added. "In such conditions, tourists are afraid. Lebanese from the diaspora can still decide to return to the country, but given the context, some of them will not make the trip." Read more Hacking Lebanese Politics #8: Why did the UAE lift its Lebanon travel ban? DisillusionmentThe disillusionment is especially significant because the signing of a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel...