As New Year’s Eve celebrations approach, the Lebanese business community is divided about what impact it may have on their fortunes following a disastrous year.
Expectations within the Lebanese tourism sector vary between the pessimism of hoteliers and the optimism of restaurants and nightclubs owners, according to sources approached by Arabian Business.
Hotel bookings have improved only slightly, while reservations are almost full at restaurants and nightclubs, just days before the end-of-year celebrations.
“The hotel sector’s expectations for the holidays were negative, but we were governed by hope,” Pierre Achkar, the president of the Syndicate of Hotels Owners in Lebanon, told Arabian Business.
He added: “Lebanese expatriates coming during Christmas and New Year’s holidays, most of them from Africa and the Gulf and a few from Europe, do not stay in hotels but have private homes or live with their families.”
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation announced that the number of visitors to Lebanon during December via Beirut International Airport increased to 8,000 daily, compared to 3,000 in previous months, with Lebanese expatriates making up the majority.
Pierre Achkar, the president of the Syndicate of Hotels Owners in Lebanon
“As a hotel sector, we used to rely on expatriates from Canada, Brazil and other distant countries. Unfortunately, due to several factors, we didn’t see movement at this level,” Achkar said, adding that a statement by the Supreme Defense Council in the run-up to the holidays about concerns over the security situation, in addition to the new, faster-spreading variant of Covid-19, “contributed to the non-arrival of tourists”.
Achkar doesn’t expect hotel occupancy to exceed 20 percent during the holidays, at best.
He added: “The delay by the Lebanese authorities in announcing the opening of the country and extending the working hours of restaurants and nightclubs does not have a major impact on the hotel sector. In addition, hotels dependent on the ski season have not benefited so far due to lack of snowfall at ski resorts.”
Achkar warned against taking any decision on a new general lockdown in the post-holidays period.
More than 100 hotels in Greater Beirut are still out of service, four months after the devastating port explosion on August 4, including major hotels such as Phoenicia, whose rehabilitation cost is estimated at $15 million, as well as the Four Seasons, Hilton, Monroe and Le Gray, according to Achkar.
Khaled Nazha, vice president of the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafés, Nightclubs and Pastries in Lebanon, appeared more optimistic than Achkar.
He told Arabian Business: “Reservations for restaurants and nightclubs are almost complete despite the dire economic and financial crisis.”
Khaled Nazha, vice president of the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafés, Nightclubs and Pastries in Lebanon
Nazha attributed the rise in reservations in restaurants and nightclubs to the influx of Lebanese expatriates to spend the holidays in Lebanon.
He believed that the expatriate who receives his salary in foreign currency finds prices in Lebanon cheap these days, adding: “We are counting on expatriates to revive the sector this season.”
He revealed that 600 out of 2,049 restaurants and nightclubs damaged by the Beirut port explosion have re-opened.
“2020 was harsh in all economic sectors, but the tourism sector was the most affected, as most Lebanese abandoned restaurants with the deterioration of their purchasing power due to the collapse of the Lebanese pound and their focus on how to secure their basic needs. The spread of coronavirus and the port explosion increased the suffering of the tourism sector,” he said.
Regarding measures to contain the spread of coronavirus, he said that capacity of each restaurant has been halved to adhere to social distancing while opening hours have been extended for restaurants and nightclubs from 10pm to 3am.
The Lebanese Ministry of Tourism announced the closure of 56 tourist establishments, in addition to issuing 831 reports relating to violations of coronavirus preventive measures.
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