An uphill battle awaits the advertising sector in 2004 as it struggles to reverse a plunge in revenues – which have dropped roughly 30% since January 2003 – played out against a backdrop of allegations of unfair competition and mafia-like cartels. As another desperate year draws to a close, many in the sector predict financial…
No season
Ever-optimistic tourist industry insiders contend that 2003 has been a satisfactory year overall and that Lebanon will continue to replace Europe and America as the destination of choice for high-end Gulf Arab tourists in 2004. In reality, however, some major prodding is necessary in the coming year for an underdeveloped sector that needs to overcome…
Dirty deals
Despite cautious optimism in some areas of the residential market, development anywhere in Lebanon is and will continue to be fraught with problems, especially corruption and suffocating and over complicated bureaucracy. Developers are at their wits end “You try to be very legal but they always find a way to tell you it’s not legal…
Microsoft takes hard approach
Microsoft chat rooms in Lebanon have been shut down. The move comes after the world
A hard choice
Viagra users in Lebanon will this month be presented with a choice: to continue using Viagra, whose impotence-combating effects last for a few hours, or to switch to Cialis, which lasts for a whopping 36. Cialis, a new anti-impotence drug produced by biotech firm Icos and marketed by US pharmaceutics powerhouse Eli Lilly
Two words: ‘good luck’
Within weeks, a US government-funded, 24-hour Arabic- language satellite television network is to start airing in the Middle East as part of Washington
Forgotten festival?
Shopping month is upon us again. But this year it has come almost as a surprise. In mid-January there had still been no pre-festival publicity.
Olympian spending
Three years ago, when it semed the world was his for the taking, businessman tycoon Taha Koleilat bought a second-division Lebanese football team, pumped several million dollars into it, bought top Lebanese players, and set his sights on the number-one berth in the First Division. Today, even though his business interests are under intense legal…
Nabatieh’s lost crusade
There is anger and disappointment in south Lebanon that a $62 million World Bank cultural heritage and urban development loan will not cover Beaufort Castle. The castle, a 12th century monument built during the Crusades, was used both by the PLO and Israel and its Lebanese allies as a strategic outpost during the war years…
August rebound
Lebanon’s traditional gush of summer season optimism has failed to shroud a painful reality – July was a bad month for the $1.5 billion-a-year tourism sector. Hotels, restaurants, and car rental agencies all acknowledged business was down significantly in July, compared to the same period last year. Industry insiders bemoaned, in particular, a relative paucity…