Lebanon reclaiming its reputation as must-go tourist spot
American newspapers say country is “getting its groove back”
Stories of Lebanon”s political discord and confessional tensions regularly appear in the foreign press, but on the travel pages of major US newspapers the Mediterranean country has reclaimed its place of prestige as a must-go tourist spot. "After years of instability, Lebanon is getting its groove back," the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. "Foreign tourists have been flocking back to the Mideast country”s pine-covered mountains, fancy Mediterranean beach clubs and buzzing night life."
For decades, just saying the word Beirut was to conjure images of violence and brutality. The city, in the popular American imagination, was a panorama of kidnappings, bombings, and street fights.
During and after Lebanon”s disastrous 1975-1990 Civil War, Hollywood stars like Brad Pitt, Eric Banna and Chuck Norris fought their way through keffiyeh-clad "terrorists" and Beirut”s blood-stained streets on the silver screen.
But Lebanon”s new press in the West may help be helping to rehabilitate the country”s image as a war-ravaged destination reserved for arms dealers and adrenaline junkies.
In January, the New York Times listed Beirut as the first of "the 44 places to go in 2009," beating other top competitors: Washington D.C., Galapagos (on Darwin”s 200th anniversary), Berlin and Las Vegas.
"With a recent (though perhaps tenuous) detente keeping the violence in check, the capital of Lebanon is poised to reclaim its title as the Paris of the Middle East," the Times said. Almost ignoring the 43 other destinations, hundreds of readers from the Middle East, Europe and the US posted comments on the daily”s Web site applauding the choice.
Most of the comment posters wrote about Lebanon”s fabled beach and night life, two features which fuelled Beirut”s popularity in the 1960s and early 70s – a time when jet setters and film stars flocked to the country”s coast before Cannes and which some taxi-drivers still refer to as the "golden years."
Like in the sixties, a period when political and social angst simmered under the surface, Lebanon in 2009 is by no means politically stable. Years of Syrian domination and Israeli occupation, the wounds of the 2006 summer war with Israel and anger over deadly street clashes last May still play active roles in the Lebanese psyche.
Fears of renewed violence are also justified ahead of hotly-contested parliamentary elections this June and a three-year old campaign of assassinations that continued Monday with the murder of a high-ranking Palestinian official in the Mieh Mieh refugee camp.
Beirut is nevertheless emerging as popular spot for foreign tourists. An estimated 1.3 million people visited the country in 2008, according to government figures, a 30 percent increase from 2007.
In addition, the World Travel and Trade Council has estimated that Lebanon”s travel and trade industry will contribute more than $2.5 billion to the country”s economy in 2009, equal to about 10 percent of its GDP.
Interestingly, the New York Times and the LA Times chose to highlight different reasons for Lebanon”s growing foreign popularity. The New York Times piece emphasized the coming arrival of new high-end hotels, cozy restaurants and an organic farmers” cooperative that has contributed to Beirut”s "gastro-political awakening."
The LA Times, while alluding to several new hotel projects, focused on Beirut”s nightlife and Lebanon”s historic sites. "Restaurants and outdoor cafes abound. At night, visitors mingle with perfumed and buffed-up young men and women partying until the wee hours in the bars and nightclubs of the trendy Gemmayzeh district," it said.
"Two hours” drive from Beirut are magnificent Roman ruins at the ancient temple complex in Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley," it added, before mentioning a couple of Lebanon”s world class vineyards and the seaside ruins in Byblos.
Lebanon”s Tourism Minister Elie Marouni considers the praise to be well-deserved.
"Lebanon has come full circle," he wrote on his ministry”s Web site. "As I settle into my new position, one thing is for certain, the country … has once again rejoined the elite list of most popular tourist destinations in the Middle East."