Good holiday tourism

Tourism hits high during Adha, but is still far from covering damages of H1 2011

The President of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners, Pierre Ashkar, voiced satisfaction over the outcome of the tourist activity during the Adha holiday.

According to Ashkar, the demand for hotel rooms in Beirut exceeded 100 percent. “This has reflected positively on other coastal areas which had an average occupancy rate of 65 percent,” he said, adding that occupancy in the mountains hovered at around 50 percent.

Ashkar said that the tourism of businessmen in Beirut has grown in the last few months. “Beirut, along with Dubai, has profited from the turmoil in Syria, Egypt, and Jordan,” he said.

However, Ashkar said that the activity of the sector is still far from making up for the loss it has put up with during the first half of the year. “We still need a potent activity for at least four months in a row before we could speak of compensation, and this is not likely to happen” he said.

According to the figures of the Ministry of Tourism, the country has lost more than 418,500 visitors during the first nine months of the year, as compared to the same period of 2010.