How did the war affect the rate of hotel reservations?

The head of the Federation of Tourism Syndicates and the head of the National Tourism Council, Pierre Al-Ashqar, confirmed that “the positives of the current holiday season will not affect hotel establishments, and this is a certain thing proven by the percentage of reservations,” considering that “it is too early to predict whether hotel traffic will increase on Eid Al-Fitr.”

He considered, in a statement, that “the biggest problem today is that the Israeli war against Lebanon is expanding to include new areas such as Baalbek and Hermel.” All of these things worry tourists and keep them away from visiting Lebanon. While the Lebanese expatriate’s visit to the country during the holidays does not reflect positively on hotel traffic, as the expatriate stays at home.”

Al-Ashqar stressed that “the effects of the holiday season will affect the tourism sector in general, as some sectors will witness improvement with the arrival of thousands of expatriates from abroad, especially the cafés, restaurants and amusement parks sector.”

He stressed that “hotel institutions are steadfast, as they have no choice but to persevere, knowing that 100 percent of these institutions are partially closed after the events of October 8, when the country became in a state of war, after it had witnessed a noticeable improvement during the year 2023, specifically until October 7.” From this year.”