Off the flight path

Famed in the region as a holiday reprieve and named one of the top 10 cities in the world to visit by the New York Times in 2010 — the same year that more than 2.1 million visitors came to Lebanon — business in Beirut’s economy has always relied heavily on its hospitality and tourism sectors. The drawback of a hospitality-driven economy is that even soft blows can do much damage. As Rabih Saba, managing and founding partner in Venture Hospitality, explains, “Security is the key word for hospitality. It is not the regional insecurities or even the internal politicians’ conflicts that hurt our sector the most. What people ultimately care for is their personal safety — so as long as the streets are safe, our business will be relatively unaffected. The danger to us is when the conflicts influence the streets.” Food and beverage sector left hungry The conflicts