50 days of discounts for tourists starting January 8

Tourism Promotion Council unveils action plan

A new attempt to revive the ailing tourism sector was recently unveiled by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) through a 50-day special promotion season. The plan entails offering tourists special rates and up to 50 percent discounts on airline tickets, hotel stays, car rentals, and shopping and leisure destinations.

The promotional season will start on January 8, 2013. “Throughout this period, tourists will benefit from a full package of discounts, from airline flights to hotel reservations,” said Pierre Achkar, head of the Syndicate of Hotels Owners.

This project is part of the promotional strategy adopted by the National Council for Tourism Promotion. The council, which was launched in October, is dedicated to setting a strategy to encourage tourists to visit Lebanon, through concentrated media campaigns. “This campaign will be focused on capturing visitors from non-Gulf Arab states, mainly Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and Algeria,” Achkar said.

The scheme also aims to control competition among hospitality establishments within the current stagnant market. “Some hotels were offering discounts of up to 60 percent to increase their occupancy, this is damaging to the sector as a whole,” Achkar said.

According to Achkar, the scheme will initially be funded by the private sector. “At a later stage, the public and private sectors will cooperate to offer financial and logistic support to the project,” he said.

The National Council for Tourism Promotion is chaired by the Minister of Tourism and includes 15 members representing key stakeholders of the tourism sector, as well as the Central Bank (BDL). The council will coordinate cooperation between the public and the private sectors to promote investments in tourism-related ventures.