Articles tagged “lebanon”

Travelers fear the Middle East is decending into war, but the situation is different everywhere you look.

Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast looks at long waits for U.S. visas, Accor's business travel forecast, and Lebanon’s tourism focus.

Lebanon does know that its diaspora is essential to help revive the country's tourism economy, but the government would need to do more than just roll out marketing campaigns to convince more tourists to visit the country.

Considering Beirut, Lebanon's last 30 years of civil war, it's remarkable that throughout the entire Arab Spring the city has not broken into open warfare. If the biggest loss is a drop in tourism, it's a lucky season.

Gulf countries started issuing travel warnings to Lebanon last year as violence trickled across the border, and Lebanese officials are aware that their most important tourist market won’t return until a sense of security is restored.

Starwood's rivals said its Dubai move was a gimmick, but the gimmick has concrete results, especially for its Le Meredien brand.

The Ritz exec's comments speak to both the enthusiasm some brands rightly have for the region as well as the concern they have prior to making any formal financial promises.

Restaurants were thriving, luxury hotels were being built, and visitor arrivals were at an all-time high in 2010, but violence in neighboring Syria has kept tourists and locals at home even more so than Lebanon’s own 15-year civil war.

The numbers are up slightly from the complete doldrums of August, but they continue to reflect the unease many visitors have visiting event the safe destinations in a region full of uprisings.

Despite a history of violence that is more seasonal than rational, Lebanon has kept itself out of the last two years of regional conflict and Beirut has flourished for the first time in three decades. Now if they could only get people to visit.