Political crisis threatens summer in Lebanon

Due to the current political crisis, concerning security conditions and deterioration in ?social services, the tourism expenditure in Lebanon has seen a 18 percent decline in the second quarter of the ?current year. It is expected to further decline this summer as long as the political and security ?situations remain the same. A report about tourism in Lebanon said: “The percentage of hotel occupancy ranges between 30 to 50 ?percent in Beirut, and less than 30 percent outside it. The apartments and chalets rented for tourism ?are empty. The arrivals in the first five months of 2013 saw a 12.48 percent decline in comparison ?with the same period in 2012.”? It is notable that statistics of the ministry of tourism did not mention any arrival from the Gulf ?area, which explains the huge decline in the tourism spending and is noted in statistics of the ?firm Global Blue Lebanon.? The firm which follows the retail sales between the merchants and their foreign customers showed ?that Beirut still has about 84 percent of the tourist spending, followed by the Metn area with 11 per cent, the Kasserawan with 2 percent, the 1 per cent to Baabda and the other areas. The statistics ?which Global Blue gather through the best retailers in the world and the trade marks for shopping ?and hotels show that the distribution in terms of spending in these areas are not changed.? The statistics also show decline in spending in the second quarter of 2013 compared with the same ?period in 2012 as spending declined from all countries by 18 percent, and the revenues of the Saudi ?tourists declined by 27 percent, Emiratis by 5 percent, Kuwaitis by 32 percent, Egyptians by 6 ?percent, Syrians 30 percent, Jordanians 31 percent, Qataris 42 percent, Niger 10 percent, French ??11 percent, Americans 16 percent and other countries 10 percent.? About the developments in the operation of transaction recoveries between the second quarter of ?this year compared with the same period in 2012, the statistics show  general decline of 18 percent: ?Saudi Arabia 28 percent, Emirates 3 percent, Kuwait 40 percent, Egypt 9 percent, Syria 41 per cent, Jordan 33 percent, Qatar 39 percent, Nigeria 12 percent, France 18 percent, US 12 percent ?and other countries 6 percent.?