Political calm lures tourists back to Beirut

AFP © [Enlarge photo]

BEIRUT (AFP) - New Yorker Dareen Hakim had dreamed of waking up in her grandmother's house in the mountains overlooking Beirut to a breakfast of fresh fruit jams and a manousheh -- a Lebanese thyme-flavoured flatbread.

Her wish came true this week as she joined tens of thousands of Lebanese and other visitors who are flocking back to Beirut, packing nightclubs, beaches and restaurants in a country that just months ago stood on the brink of civil war.

"Every time I have wanted to come, there was fighting and it was unstable," said the 30-year-old businesswoman, who is in town making plans for her wedding next year.

The tourism ministry said it expects between 1.3 and 1.6 million tourists to travel to Lebanon this year after a breakthrough deal among rival political clans that has brought back a semblance of normalcy to a country once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East.

The figure compares with a little over a million last year, 1.062 million in 2006, when thousands fled the country due to the July-August war between Hezbollah and Israel , and 1.140 million in 2005.

The tourism ministry said there had been a 97.5 percent jump in tourist arrivals in June alone, to 136,853 from 69,303 in June 2007.

"It was after the talks in Doha that I decided to come," said Nadim Saab, 58, who had not been back in three years.

"Before that, the political situation wasn't that great and the country wasn't, in my mind, a safe place to come and enjoy," the US-based self-employed businessman said.

Unrest, including assassinations, war, a debilitating political crisis and civil strife had deterred tourists and visitors from coming to Lebanon the past two summers.

But things took a turn for the better in May following a peace deal clinched in the Qatari capital Doha that put brought an end to violence that had killed 65 people and led to the election of President Michel Sleiman after a six month vacuum.

A national unity government was formed earlier this month.

"All the touristic places are packed, the restaurants are packed, the flights were packed, even the roads are packed," Saab said.

A Middle East Airlines reservations agent told AFP that "all flights coming into the country are full" through the summer.

Lebanese returning from abroad and predominantly Arab tourists have crowded the country's popular hotels, beaches and night spots.

"The occupancy rate of hotels in Beirut has surpassed 90 percent and hotels in the mountains are seeing rates of over 75 percent," said Pierre Ashkar who heads the hotel owners' association.

"Last year, the occupancy rate in Beirut stood at around 60 to 65 percent," he said.

-- 'August will be the true test' --

The Royale Hotel, located north of Beirut, has seen a significant jump in business and rooms in other hotels are hard to come by.

"Our occupancy is up 40 percent as compared to the same period last year," a hotel employee told AFP requesting anonymity.

Finding a rental car has also become like pulling teeth and dealerships are out of stock amid a rush to purchase gas-efficient vehicles.

"We don't have a single rental car left so we're borrowing private vehicles and renting them out," said Tony Haddad who runs HR Rental.

Restaurants and nightclubs are also busting at the seams and a host of musical events are scheduled, including performances by singing sensation Mika, performer Bob Sinclair and world-renowned DJ Tiesto.

"We expect over 10,000 people to attend Mika on Sunday," said event organiser Wafa Saab.

Sky Bar, one of Beirut's most popular nightclubs that can host up to 2,000 people a night, is fully booked every weekend until the end of the season.

"Even on weekdays, we are at 80 to 85 percent capacity rate till the end of the season," said Adham Beainy, 29, a manager.

"The places that did well last summer are doing even better this year and the places that didn't do well last summer are doing well now," he added saying that the true test would be in the month of August.

But despite the impressive numbers, some say the season could have been even better had politics not gotten in the way, with the 45 days of political bickering it took to form a government.

"If the government had been formed earlier, it would have been better," Ashkar said.

"As long as the government wasn't formed, people were afraid a problem would flare up, because here we're like little kids, we immediately get into fights," he added.

Beainy said that the majority of the Arab tourists he has encountered mostly come from Kuwait and Qatar, "because the Saudis were just recently allowed to return after the government was formed."

Saudi Arabia asked its citizens to leave Lebanon in March due to the growing instability in the country.

"August will be the true test," Beainy said.

Ashkar said he knew about families who had booked suites and apartments at high-end resorts costing between 2,000 and 2,500 dollars a night, but cancelled when it the government took so long to be formed.

"They made bookings in St. Tropez and Monte Carlo instead, but maybe they will make their way back through here in August," he said.

For many like Hakim however there are no two ways about it.

"Things are moving in the right direction. You have to hope for the best and deal with problems when they arise," said Hakim, whose July wedding will take place on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean.

"If something does happen, I will wait it out. Nothing compares to Lebanon and a wedding in Lebanon ," she said.