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How fears of war are hurting Beirut’s travel industry
STORY: Empty lobbies and vacant rooms are not what Beirut’s glamorous hotels are used to this time of year.But as fears of an all out war grows between Hezbollah and Israel, the travel industry in the Lebanese capital has been feeling the impact.”Unfortunately, tourism depends a lot, a lot, on stability. And if we don’t have political stability, we don’t have tourism.”Omar Saade is the sales manager at the Hilton Beirut Habtoor Hotel cluster.“Beirut has been affected in this situation since last October, since the whole issue started in Gaza, unfortunately. The major expenses we occur in the hospitality, as we all know, is the diesel, the fuel because unfortunately Lebanon does not have electricity, and for the past week, we are shut down almost 24 hours, so we depend 24 hours per day on our generators to run electricity in the hotel.”Hotel guests have also noticed a difference:HILTON BEIRUT HABTOOR GRAND HOTEL GUEST, NAHYA AL-NAHHAS: “This is the first time we see less people – guests at the hotel. Normally, there is a lot of people, but not this year – just a few. This is unfortunate to have a big establishment like this hotel without many guests.”:: Marjayoun, LebanonHezbollah and the Israeli military have been locked in hostilities for the last 10 months in parallel with the Gaza war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas…:: Northern IsraelAugust 17, 2024which has spread to several other fronts and prompted fears of an all-out Middle East conflict.International airlines have responded by suspending flights to the region – or avoiding affected air space.Jean El Zailaa is the executive director of travel management services at Nakhal travel agency. “…When airlines start canceling flights and embassies announce asking their citizens to leave, this causes many travel cancellations – a businessman, who had a trip planned, postpones; tourists reconsidered their trips, everyone was scared to get stuck outside (Lebanon).”Lebanon’s state – hollowed out by a five-year economic crisis – had been struggling to provide basic services, even before the current conflict began.
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