No economic sector in Lebanon has been left untouched by the crisis that has lasted for several months. Not a day will pass without the repercussions of this economic and financial crisis in all aspects of life.
The tourism sector is a vivid example of the country’s serious deterioration, which until this time has failed in all attempts to curb it.
All tourism activities were affected by the economic crisis that afflicts Lebanon, especially after the rise in the exchange rate of the US dollar against the national currency, while the outbreak of the Corona virus affected a painful blow to the tourism institutions of all kinds.
Many institutions have either totally or partially closed, laid off numbers of employees, and cut the salaries of others.
The tourism sectors issued a cry, demanding their support and granting tax exemptions, and the government gave a period of one month to implement its demands threatening to close and stop paying salaries for workers starting from the beginning of next September, in addition to the demonstration and sit-in open to the ministries of tourism and the economy.
Close and layoffs
The Secretary-General of the Federation of Tourism Establishments, Jan Beiruti, said that the tourism sector incurs huge losses in order to continue, and he explained to Al Jazeera Net that there is a partial closure of three quarters of hotels in Lebanon.
He pointed out that some of them are seeking to restore their work, stressing that 40% of restaurants did not open their doors after the stone was raised, and he also pointed to reducing the salaries of workers in the tourism sector by up to 50%.
Beiruti spoke of layoffs of more than 30 thousand employees who are officially registered tourism workers, out of 160 thousand, indicating the impact of the crisis significantly on about 150 thousand seasonal workers.
The same spokesman affirmed that the wedding, party and festivals sectors were almost completely stopped.
In turn, the head of the owners of travel and tourism offices, Jean Abboud, said that the sector is heading towards collapse due to the economic conditions and the consequences of the Corona virus.
He told Al Jazeera Net that the travel and tourism offices sector had been paralyzed by 90%, indicating that sales were up to $ 60 million per month in 2018 and 2019.
He added that after the opening of the airport last week, the movement was limited to selling some travel cards with the aim of deporting foreign workers in Lebanon, considering this a very serious bankruptcy indicator.
Abboud explained that 150 to 200 travel offices were closed due to the crisis, out of the approximately 500 institutions working in this field.
He pointed out that the institutions are currently operating with a capacity of only 10% of the size of employees, noting that these people receive only 25% of the value of their salaries.
Tourism .. Lebanon went
Traditionally, the Lebanese tourism sector contributes between 20% to 25% of the Lebanese GDP, and provides job opportunities for about 25% of the Lebanese labor force, but in the past years it has declined to 19%.
The Ministry of Tourism announced that Lebanon received in the first eight months of last year more than one million and 400 thousand tourists, indicating that the rate of tourism growth was 7% in 2018.
Tourism, agriculture, industry and services are the pillars of the Lebanese economy, and economist Patrick Mardini believes to Al Jazeera Net that tourism is Lebanon's gold, because it enters difficult currencies into the country.
Mardini pointed out that Lebanon has the infrastructure, such as hotels, restaurants, cabarets, etc., and called for opening up the aviation sector to competition by allowing small companies to come to Lebanon.
He explained that Lebanon cannot depend on industry and agriculture because of the high cost and lack of conditions for these two sectors at the present time.