As tourism booms, funds funnel into luxurious downtown

More than 80, 000 tourists have flocked to Lebanon in the first half of February 2003, already 50 percent above the aggregate figure for February 2002.

Unfortunately, those who are currently benefiting from this great inflow of visitors are confined to a narrow section of the society as tourism activity is almost restricted to the downtown Beirut area.

Middle to low-income classes of the community seem unable to gain from the booming tourism season.

Should the government be blamed for promoting tourism only for the wealthy Arabs and for not investing enough in making the country more affordable and thus appealing to lower-budget travelers in other countries?

Tourism in Lebanon has undoubtedly improved over the past few years and was perhaps the only sector of the economy to witness strong growth in a long period of stagnation.

Foreign visitors to Lebanon in 2002 exceeded some 950, 000, up 14percent from their 2001 level and by more than 42percent when compared to total arrivals in 1999.

In particular, after the Sep. 11 attacks in the United States, Gulf nationals started facing difficulties when applying for visas to their traditional travel destinations in the West.

Visa difficulties compelled Gulf Arabs to look for alternative places to spend their vacations.

Therefore, Lebanon emerged as a primary option for these Arab tourists, with the recently rebuilt and renovated city center offering a wide range of fancy eateries and cafés.

The development of the road network, which was almost exclusively to and from the Beirut Central District, also helped facilitate accessibility to an area which was ravaged during the 15-year civil war. was

Looking at tourism figures for the post-Sep. 11period, Lebanon compares quite favorably to its neighboring Arab states.

While the Middle East region witnessed an average drop in total tourist arrivals by 2.5 percent when comparing 2001 to 2000, Lebanon benefited from a 12.9 percent increase during the same period.

Syria, for instance, suffered a 6.9 percent drop in international arrivals in 2001, still less dramatic than the 14.8 percent decline in total visitors to Egypt during the same year.

Lebanon's success in attracting a large number of wealthy Arab tourists could also be explained by the unprecedented and yet exclusive facilities that local authorities provide them.

Gulf Arabs have their visas stamped at the Beirut International Airport upon entry without any trouble. Even better, their drivers, maids, and babysitters are granted free visas when they enter the country by road via Jordan and Syria.

Kuwaitis intending to spend their entire summer vacation in the Bhamdoun mountains found this way to be extremely practical as they would send their limousines and house aids beforehand while they fly first class with their families.

In the summer of 2002, Arab tourists practically invaded the BCD, where cafés and restaurants became the best hang-out for those families wishing to flee the heat of their hometowns in the Gulf and enjoy the mild Lebanese weather. The Ministry of Tourism actually estimated that the Arabs who visited Lebanon last summer (during July and August) at 184,000, representing around 58 percent of all summer visitors.

With these figures, Arab tourists have become the engine for growth in the Lebanese tourism industry, accounting for more than 44 percent of the total number of tourists for the whole of 2002.

Such a pattern is surely encouraging. Industry officials said that Lebanon seems to be regaining its role as a primary tourist attraction in the region. However, the seemingly favorable tourism performance is only injecting money to big businesses such as the high-class hotels and the luxurious bistros.

Meanwhile, the middle to lower end of the market seems to be only benefiting slowly not to say deprived at all.

When the largest proportion of tourists comes from the richest region in the world, these wealthy tourists would not probably choose to grab a "mankousheh" at a humble snack house or use regular "service" cabs for transportation.

They would rather spend their bucks at extravagant restaurants and use private taxis or rent expensive cars.

Rich tourists usually spend most of their time shopping in big malls and prefer a laid-back vacation rather than exploring historical sites in towns situated far from the capital, of course save for a few Mountain summer resort villages.

Focusing the country's tourism strategy on attracting wealthy tourists certainly helps draw cash to the country, but it does not promote small businesses that are in desperate need for some kind of spur.

As such, promoting tourism for middle-class travelers becomes a necessity at this stage of tourism development and at this particular period of slow economic growth. Currently, Lebanon's unemployment rate is estimated to be around 25 percent while real GDP grew by less than 1% on average in the past three years.

Examining what the government did to promote mass tourism, we notice that the general tourism infrastructure remains underdeveloped.

Roads leading to the main tourist attractions are either incomplete, lack safety requirements, or too narrow and thus are easily congested.

The highway leading to the city of Tripoli, which hosted an important cultural festival last year, was too tight, thanks to construction works, and could hardly put in one car in each direction.

There is also imminent need to develop the bus network so that at least major cities become accessible via public transportation. This step would also benefit the Lebanese population and would ultimately improve internal tourism.

Moreover, the country lacks proper accommodation for students or independent travelers who do not wish to waste all their money on lodging.

Lebanon lacks youth hostels in Beirut or in any other major city for that matter. Cheap hotels could be found, but the ratio of quality to value remains incompetitive relative to other peer countries.

To cite but one example, the entire town of Baalbeck which has perhaps the most remarkable roman temples in the Middle East and hosts annually a well-renowned art festival has only one hotel, and a rather expensive one.

Cyprus which has a similarly moderate weather and possesses some decent historical sites (though much less impressive than Lebanon) attracted around 2.7 million tourists in 2001 and has been averaging 2.4 million international arrivals per annum in the past five years although the Larnaka international airport is not as prestigious as the newly rebuilt Beirut airport.

Could it be because Cyprus offers a wide range of hotels for all budgets and is not as expensive as Lebanon? It is surprising to learn that Beirut was found to be the 18th most expensive city in the world in a survey published in 2002 covering 144 cities worldwide while Limassol came in the 131st place.

No need to mention that Beirut proved to be the most expensive city in the entire Middle East region.

As such, even though tourism has recently improved, let us not forget that there have been some indirect factors that led to its expansion.

The first, as mentioned above, being the events of September 11, but most recently, fears of the expected war against Iraq have encouraged people from the neighboring Gulf to find refuge in Lebanon.

While officials are content with the current state of the industry, they should realize that once these external factors disappear, even Arab nationals might look for alternative destinations. The tourism strategy in Lebanon would have to reinvent itself to ensure some sort of sustainability.

Economists and tourism experts should focus on improving tourism facilities and containing prices in order to diversify nationalities and categories of visitors. Non-Arab tourists might be more interested in the cultural wealth of the country rather than its consumerist appeal.

Backpackers were found to be the only consistent flow of tourists in regions threatened by security escalation, as they are young-spirited and love to explore. Although they spend wisely, yet they come in numbers and would boost up the suffering lower end of the market.