Low Tourism Hurting Lebanese Hotels

According to The Daily Star, this year has seen a 37% decrease in tourism in Lebanon in comparison to 2010, a steep figure that promises to complicate the hotel and hospitality business.

The newspaper also reports that two hotels, located in Kaslik, have closed—among them a four-star hotel called Acropolis (photo below). Other hotels and travel ventures are expected to struggle this year; many of their employees have reportedly been laid off or fired in an effort to cut costs and stay afloat the economic woes.

Unfortunately, repercussions of the “Arab Spring” and the succeeding season, the “Arab Winter,” have had negative effects on nearly all of the Middle Eastern countries.

So don’t count on tourism in Lebanon this year. Or anytime soon, for that matter.