Freshwater sites need to be protected and promoted

ENAR

Various stakeholders—from the current and previous ministers of tourism and heads of hospitality-related syndicates to restaurant operators and local retail business owners—have all said that tourism was a main driver of the Lebanese economy. Speaking at a March conference on tourism entitled “Towards Sustainable Tourism,” Prime Minister Hariri said he believed that the total contribution of tourism to GDP could eventually reach 50 percent—including both direct and indirect tourism—noting that several sectors benefit from tourism and it should therefore be given more attention by the government. It is high time that the government puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to tourism. While it is true that tourism has been a pillar of the Lebanese economy in politically stable years—tourism directly contributed 14 percent of GDP in 2003 and just under 11 percent in 2010, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council—this has not been thanks