Safety issues in Lebanon exaggerated says minister

The Lebanese minister of tourism visited Dubai on June 19 to reassure the GCC region that Lebanon is safe to visit, claiming that reports of unrest have been “exaggerated”.

The visit comes after the UAE and other nations issued warning to citizens against travelling to Lebanon, over fears that unrest from Syria could move over the border into the country.

Fadi Abboud, Lebanese minister of tourism, said that the four countries which issued warning represented only 115,000 tourists in 2011, but they had high levels of spending.

In 2010, tourism accounted for 20% of the country’s GDP - around US $8 billion - and employed 250,000 Lebanese nationals seasonally. Abboud said that in 2011 tourism totalled US $7 billion, and “we were predicting something similar this year, but after the travel advice, if the Gulf tourists decide not to come to Lebanon, certainly it will affect that”.

He said: “The most important tourists [to Lebanon] are from the Gulf, and Arab tourism, in general. The four countries that decided to issue advice against Lebanon represent only seven per cent of tourists coming to Lebanon, but they represent more than 25% of expenditure.”

“It has affected the situation in Lebanon. In the first five months of the year, we received about half a million tourists, but in the last three weeks it has dropped. The first week, there was a huge drop, but the last two weeks were much better. Last weekend, Beirut’s four- and five-star hotels had around 79% occupancy,” added Abboud. 

Abboud told Hotelier Middle East: “From a security point of view, I can say that Beirut is among the most secure cities in the world. You can walk with an expensive Rolex watch any time of the day and it’s fine. In my opinion, it is a bit of an exaggeration. We want people to know that hell did not break loose in Lebanon.”