Beirut hotels fully booked

Many Arab visitors expected for Adha holiday, tourism turnout for 2011 could bounce back

The President of the Association of Tourism and Travel Agencies, Jean Abboud, said that the reservations for the Adha holiday have almost reached 100 percent. According to Abboud, the number of incomers till end-September dropped by 18 percent, on a yearly basis. “We hope that if the positive activity continues (the tourism sector) could make up for part of the loss it has suffered since the beginning of the turmoil (in the Arab world),” he said.

The Director General of the Commercial Services at the Middle East Airlines (MEA), Nizar Khoury, said that flight reservations prior to the upcoming holiday were up by ten percent. Khoury said that most of the reservations were made by residents of Arab countries. He said that the MEA has scheduled extra flights to Arab states due to the high demand.

According to the President of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners, Pierre Ashkar, the hotels in Beirut have been fully-booked with over 130 percent reservations for the Adha holiday week.

Movenpick hotel said that its reservations for the Adha holiday have reached 96 percent. The hotel expected its rooms to be fully-booked by November 5th. The reservations desk at the Rotana Hotels said that the hotel’s three properties, two in Beirut and one in Hazmieh, are already fully-reserved for the holiday. Both hotels said that the reservations were mostly made by residents of Arab countries.

Occupancy in Beirut hotels during September hovered at an average of 70 percent, Ashkar said. However, he said, the occupancy rates out of the capital were still very low.

According to the figures of the Ministry of Tourism, the country has lost more than 418,500 visitors during the first nine months of the year, as compared to the same period of 2010.