AFP Lebanon proposed tax relief and other measures to help its tourism industry recover from a “disaster” that cost it an estimated $1 billion in losses from a month of Israeli bombing.
Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis said the recovery plan was unveiled after a meeting between government officials and the tourism industry.
“We have today issued a programme for the recovery and rehabilitation of tourism in Lebanon based, hopefully, on stability in the security aspect,” Sarkis said.
Before the 34-day war that began July 12 between Israel and the Lebanes resistance group Hizbollah, Lebanon was anticipating $4.4-billion in revenue and investment in its tourism and tourism infrastructure this year.
“Now all this has gone,” Sarkis said. “It’s a total disaster.” Direct and indirect losses are estimated at $1 billion, he said.
Under the recovery plan, tourism operators are being asked to fill in forms to give officials a more detailed assessment of the losses.
Tax breaks and discussions with financial institutions are also being talked over “in order for the institutions to remain working during this difficult period,” he said.
As some hotels have begun laying off staff, the recovery plan also calls for a fund to help tourism operators pay workers’ salaries.
“We are afraid that if we do not succeed in paying their salaries, these workers will leave and go elsewhere in Arab countries where they will find jobs,” he said.
The ministry is opening an account with the Lebanese central bank to receive donations.
“Lebanon by itself will not be able” to cope, he said.
Sarkis added that the tourism ministry also plans to cooperate with the environment ministry over recovery from a massive oil spill that officials say has polluted about 150 km of the Lebanese coast and spread north into Syrian waters.
“Fifty to sixty per cent of tourism activity is based on the sea,” he explained. The spill occurred when Israel bombed a power plant south of Beirut.
The ministry also wants to launch a campaign to lure back Arab tourists.
“It is not easy,” Sarkis said. “We want to be sure before we invite these people, that they will be safe in Lebanon.” Arabs form the majority of visitors to Lebanon, which Sarkis said had received 630,000 tourists by July 12.
“Our expectation was for 1,600,000 tourists during the full year 2006. We would have met that and even more. So we were on the right track.” Beirut hotels that saw occupancy levels of 90 per cent or more before the war now report around 30 or 40 per cent of the rooms empty.
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