“We will keep witnessing closures of venues and bankruptcies every month, especially the small, less established outlets. This has always been the case, but [in 2013] the rate of these closures will increase and profitability will drop across the sector.”
“2011 was a very good year for us, one of the best years ever for Sushi Bar. 2012 started well, even better than the previous year, up until May when the drop was kick-started. Depending on the outlet, we are somewhere between 11 percent and 19 percent below last year, which constitutes a substantial decrease, but not a major loss.”
“If the regional situation continues like this, we will be facing a bigger crisis as tourists continue to avoid Lebanon, and overseas expats fear visiting. Already, the high tourist season in Lebanon is getting smaller with barely a productive week of festivities in the winter and a month in the summer, especially with Ramadan now in it.”
“The situation around us will not stop us from further diversifying our portfolios because throughout the country’s history there has been turmoil, and things have reached rock bottom often… we use this down time to find good opportunities and when the market picks up we will be ready.”
“The best way to describe the coming period, which actually started a few months ago, is “challenging” — a challenge that could be called survival until we see better days. It is necessary to reduce costs to cope with the consequences of such a delicate situation we are currently experiencing.”
