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BEIRUT: A decade ago, Lebanons tourism industry fed $9.5 billion into the countrys GDP figures the cash-strapped government can only dream of now.
But as regional instability kicked on with conflicts blighting Lebanons neighbors for the past 10 years, by 2018 the sums were looking worse as the figure fell to $3.5 billion, or around 5 percent of GDP.
From then the picture blackened and for the countrys proud export and significant cog in the economic wheel, the tumultuous events of the last 19 months have chastised the industry.
When the popular uprising of October 2019 brought the country to a standstill, it sounded the death knell for an already wobbling economy and crumbled the value of the Lebanese pound, which has since fallen to 85 percent of its worth against the US dollar.
As the currency sank so too has Lebanons stability and along with the financial cost of the coronavirus pandemic, the countrys famed hospitality establishments have been gathering dust and void of visitors.
Tourists tempted to spend a summer in Lebanon now have to weigh up whether taking advantage of a weak Lebanese pound is worth risking the growing civil and political strife as food, drug, and electricity shortages abound.
The tourism package [in Lebanon] consists of many components; one of them is the dollar. But there are many we have to take into consideration; like security, peace of mind, Jean Abboud, head of Tourism and Travel Agencies Union told The Daily Star.
Maybe in a few days we will not have electricity, we will not have fuel.
For those with access to dollars, life in Lebanon has become comparatively cheap and the increased spending power has raised the prospect of an inflow of tourists eager to take advantage of the pounds crash on the black market.
But Abboud, who runs a travel agency in Beirut, was uncommitted to the idea of a weak pound being enough of an attraction. He said that instead business could rely on domestic tourists this summer.
Domestic tourism is going to work. People have been one year, one year and a half, staying at home and want to go out.
Although Abboud admitted for those whose earnings are still in Lebanese pound domestic tourism is expensive, This is what we have to take into consideration.
Lebanons overflow of crises was trumped last summer by an immense explosion in the capital in August that blew apart the city, including many hotels, restaurants and bars.
Some 163 hotels and over 2,000 restaurants were severely damaged in the explosion, hotel union president Pierre Ashkar said at the time.
Some of the citys best known five-star hotels that line upmarket Zaitunay Bay, including the InterContinentals Phoenicia, the Four Seasons Hotel, and the Hilton Downtown, around 3km from the blast site, suffered enough destruction for the establishments not to reopen.
It is not a good time for hotels in Lebanon, especially five-star hotels, Sherif Samaha, owner of Hamras The Mayflower hotel told The Daily Star.
Five-star hotels are attractive when it is super stable, when people can come in and show off, and come with their own Ferraris and Lamborghinis, Samaha elaborated.
The guarantee of safety in Lebanon has been lost, Samaha said, and so too has the demand for luxury, previously enjoyed by a steady flow of Arabs from Gulf states.
Samahas hotel has famously not closed its doors for one day since his father opened them in 1957, despite decades of civil war, and the recent coronavirus pandemic that pulled shutters down across the country.
But he conceded Lebanons current economic situation has created a long-lasting drought of tourism. The killer blow was the coronavirus in March 2020. That was like - thats it. If we had just somewhat a bit of hope left, COVID just killed it.
But an exceptional influx of Iraqi tourists to Lebanon has added a glimmer of hope just as businesses began to fear another year dogged by coronavirus measures.
Right now, we are actually OK, there is a lockdown in Iraq and so Iraqis are fleeing that, Samaha said, revealing that 90 percent of The Mayflowers rooms are currently occupied by Iraqis.
According to Samaha, at least 50 hotels in Hamra have closed over the last year and a half, leaving around 30 institutions hanging on in the west Beirut quarter characterized by its commercial outlets and vibrant atmosphere.
Average hotel occupancy has been around 7 percent, a staggering drop from 80 percent prior to the coronavirus, Abboud said.
The health pandemic that brought much of the world to a grinding halt last year only served to exacerbate Lebanons flagging financial state.
Moreover, it dealt a huge blow to the aviation industry, when authorities made the dramatic decision to shut Lebanons only airport from March to July last year.
Beiruts airport has been running at a reduced capacity of 40 percent ever since, with just 3,000 passengers coming through the doors, five times less than prepandemic levels.
Middle East Airlines, Lebanons part state-owned national carrier, has also become a victim of the collapsing financial state. Only 5 percent maximum of Lebanons inhabitants can afford to travel abroad nowadays. Even if they have dollars, they prefer to keep it, because they are afraid of tomorrow, Abboud said.
Lebanese used to enjoy purchasing MEA tickets with Lebanese pounds, but now, in light of the collapse, customers will have to pay only in fresh cash US dollars a privilege in today's Lebanon.
The decision, coming into effect from June 8 just as the summer holiday season starts, will further paralyze locals not only looking for a summer getaway but also for the many searching for futures abroad, away from the countrys crises-ridden climate.
However, Lebanons actual climate used to be a selling point for international travelers seeking out the Mediterranean beaches, cool mountains and hedonistic party scene.
But now with tourists deterred, beach resorts and hotels are instead reportedly being bagged by locals ready for the warmer weather.
Foreign tourists comprise just 15 percent of bookings this summer at Raed Bekdaches boutique guesthouse, Blue Marlin, in the coastal city of Batroun. Two years ago, before the revolution [of Oct. 17] in Lebanon, I used to have around 60 percent foreigners staying and 40 percent Lebanese, Bekdache told The Daily Star by phone.
Yet, Bekdaches guesthouse is fully booked every week until September as the allure of Batrouns fish restaurants, beaches, and old town bars satiate the Lebanese appetite for fun.
As Bekdache put it, Lebanese people like to have fun, [they] like to live. It is very important in Lebanese culture. People cant stay at home."
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