Tourism : in Lebanon, the abandoned beaches, the courted mountains

The Lebanese coast, described by the media for its high level of pollution, is less attractive, while the mountains, renowned for their fresh air during the heavy summer months, are not slowing down. Anything to do with the sea or the beach has been attacked. We have seen a 30 to 40% decrease in beach use.
Since the waste crisis, alarming reports of coastal pollution have multiplied. The latest, published by the CNRS in late July, indicates that some places remain frequent despite pollution. As a result, tourists turn instead to high altitude localities such as Broummana, Faraya, Ehden or Beiteddine. Festivals have contributed a lot to this phenomenon. Shakira’s concert in Les Cèdres (July 13, NDLR) attracted 14,000 people! This is huge. Some came to Lebanon especially for that. We have seen a decline in nightclub attendance in Beirut. Nobody goes out on Thursday nights anymore, unlike in previous years.

New restaurants in Broummana
This renewed interest in domestic tourism is reflected in the resumption of certain key destinations, such as Broummana (Metn), a green village nestled at an altitude of 800 metres and synonymous with freshness for the inhabitants of the coast. The president of the municipality Pierre Achkar managed to shine the international press spotlight on his village in early June by deciding to put tight shorts on the city’s policewomen. « I did my trick, » congratulates the man who is also president of the Lebanese hotel union.
According to Mr. Achkar, « the opening of new restaurants this summer will welcome 550 more people than last year. A total of 5,000 people visit Broummana every night. But attendance still remains below the years preceding the Arab spring. A high number of visitors which was only possible thanks to a large number of tourists from the Gulf, today in clear decline because of political tensions (-7.7% over the first six months of the year on the national territory), while the number of European tourists jumped (+12% over the same period).
Another factor limiting the increase in attendance is the growing number of Lebanese who prefer to spend their holidays elsewhere, mainly in Turkey and Greece. That’s a 10% to 20% increase. The best indicator is charter flights from Beirut. They went from 70-75 a week last summer to 80-85 this year.
To end the summer in style, professionals want the government to be formed soon.