Where did everyone go?

With the electricity more off than on, it has been a hot, yet so far quiet summer. No waves of swaying black abayas in ABC and while Beirut’s hotels would normally be fully booked, a room these days is easy to find, often against bargain prices. A quick Internet search shows that a five-star Saturday night in mid-August costs $495 per room at the Movenpick Hotel and Resort, $240 at the Phoenicia Intercontinental, $135 at the Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace (down from $328!) and only $99 at the Commodore Hotel. Now, Ramadan traditionally is a quiet time in terms of travel, yet a similar search for a Saturday in September again shows ample availability and only slightly higher prices. Surprisingly, the tourism sector’s main indicators at first sight do not seem all that bad. During the first five months of this year, 557,188 foreigners flocked to Lebanon, which represents only