Ihab Kanawati General manager, Crowne Plaza Hotel
The most important thing in Lebanon is its natural beauty. That is a big advantage we should always remember. We are becoming a preferred destination and a safe haven for all business and leisure people. There is no reason to be afraid if our prices (room rates) exceed those of neighboring or other regional countries. We should also work on developing our advantages because if we are prepared to work hard and deliver exquisite service, there is nothing stopping us from climbing the ranks. At the moment, Gulf countries are the main source of tourists; however, we should open up to other markets like Europe, Australia, Japan…these are very big suppliers if we know how to tackle them. The private sector should also meet under the umbrella of the Ministry of Tourism, and not only to say Hello and Goodbye, but there should be an action plan, starting by pouring additional funds to advertise our country internationally and also creating new job opportunities to retain our talented human resources. The ministry should act upon this.
Paul Ariss President of Lebanon’s Restaurant Owners’ Association
The Beirut Central District is no longer an attraction for pubs, restaurants and cafes for locals. Only people who work downtown keep visiting the actual entities, and some tourists in the summer time. Nothing — nothing has been done to revive this area or to help the 104 restaurants that were operating there before 2007. Less than 30 remain and they hardly break even. Moreover, the decentralization of pubs, restaurants and cafes towards other parts of Beirut and Greater Beirut does not help the BCD recover.
Nather Auchi Vice president, Le Royal Hotel
A couple of days ago, a delegation came from Germany. It was a group of photographers and TV reporters from the main tourism channel in Germany. They were doing a report about Lebanon to show the real image of this country. They were very impressed because they had always held the wrong impression about the country. We tried to bring them closer to the Ministry of Tourism in order to promote Lebanon, and it was hard for us to do so. There is no collaboration and support from the Ministry of Tourism. It is not a matter of money, but services for example. They are signing tourism agreements, but what are they and how will they affect the tourism industry? So there should be more collaboration between the ministry and the private sectors and it would have been better if there was backup from the ministry or from embassies abroad on this subject.
Sandro Saade Chief executive officer, Wild Discovery
To be able to attract a higher number of tourists, Lebanon needs to work on several issues among which is a public transportation solution. When tourists come to visit Lebanon, some of them can afford to pay on a weekly basis from $300 to $400 for taxis only and others cannot. Therefore, we need to work on a suitable solution to meet both the high and average budgets, a plus to the overall Lebanese tourism industry. The will is certainly there. There is also a large number of tourists who were planning to come to Lebanon this year; however, we believe that many of them did not because of the expensive image the country holds abroad. The ministry has put in great effort towards increasing the number of tourists and the target has been reached. Nevertheless, there is still a huge potential that we are missing out on from the Western countries.
Gordon Campbell Chairman, Campbell Gray Hotels
Beirut is not a beautiful city, it is a big sprawling mix, it is beautiful, ugly, damaged, sexy, complicated, annoying, fascinating…all of the above. But beautiful it’s not, really. It is the safest city in the world: you can walk around at two in the morning and it is totally safe. I wouldn’t walk around London or Paris or New York in the morning without being very careful. So I am promoting that. But [foreign] people’s perceptions have to change. I think the driving is ghastly, horrible, and the police need to sort that out. You drive in Rome and it’s crazy, but no one is dying in Rome. Here they die. I had to drive off the road to save my life, and it’s not funny, that is the only thing I object to. The powers of the police need to be strong to say “stop it.”
Joseph Coubat Area vice president, Rotana Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait & Qatar
Online booking provides hotels with a simple yet powerful way to sell their products online. All recently published statistics on Internet sales confirm that hotel bookings represent almost 50 percent of all Internet transactions worldwide, travel still remains the Internet’s largest business and it is set to grow even more. There is huge potential in this region for online technology and this sector will inevitably replace the more conventional methods of revenue generating communication and interaction with our guests. The region is catching up quickly and this is exactly why major online partners have now opened offices in the Middle East, as the potential is tremendous. In Lebanon this new trend is picking up as we are slowly seeing more bookings coming via online channels every day.
