Daily Star: The Tourism Ministry said it expects between 1.3 and 1.6 million tourists to travel to Lebanon this year.
The figure compares with a little over a million last year, 1.062 million in 2006, when thousands fled the country due to the summer 2006 war with Israel, and 1.140 million in 2005.
The Tourism Ministry said there had been a 97.5 percent jump in tourist arrivals in June alone, to 136,853 from 69,303 in June 2007.
All the touristic places are packed, the restaurants are packed, the flights were packed, even the roads are packed.
A Middle East Airlines reservations agent said that "all flights coming into the country are full" through the summer.
Lebanese returning from abroad and predominantly Arab tourists have crowded the country's popular hotels, beaches and night spots.
"The occupancy rate of hotels in Beirut has surpassed 90 percent and hotels in the mountains are seeing rates of over 75 percent," said Pierre Ashkar, head of the hotel owners' association.
"Last year, the occupancy rate in Beirut stood at around 60 to 65 percent," he added.
The Royale Hotel, located north of Beirut, has seen a significant jump in business and rooms in other hotels are hard to come by. "Our occupancy is up 40 percent as compared to the same period last year," a hotel employee told AFP requesting anonymity.
Finding a rental car has also become like pulling teeth and dealerships are out of stock amid a rush to purchase gas-efficient vehicles.
"We don't have a single rental car left so we're borrowing private vehicles and renting them out," said Tony Haddad who runs HR Rental.
Restaurants are also bursting at the seams.
|