Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy

Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
A billboard in Beirut that reads: "A new era for Lebanon". (AP)
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Updated 07 June 2025
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Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy

Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
  • Lebanon’s new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors

BEIRUT: Fireworks lit up the night sky over Beirut’s famous St. Georges Hotel as hit songs from the 1960s and 70s filled the air in a courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
The retro-themed event was hosted last month by Lebanon’s Tourism Ministry to promote the upcoming summer season and perhaps recapture some of the good vibes from an era viewed as a golden one for the country. In the years before a civil war began in 1975, Lebanon was the go-to destination for wealthy tourists from neighboring Gulf countries seeking beaches in summer, snow-capped mountains in winter and urban nightlife year-round.
In the decade after the war, tourists from Gulf countries – and crucially, Saudi Arabia – came back, and so did Lebanon’s economy. But by the early 2000s, as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gained power, Lebanon’s relations with Gulf countries began to sour. Tourism gradually dried up, starving its economy of billions of dollars in annual spending.
Now, after last year’s bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon’s new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products.
“Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it’s very important that the bans get lifted,” said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country’s tourism minister.
On the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah’s leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read “a new era for Lebanon.” In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the rise.
There are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel bans.
All eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military arsenal.
Tourism as a diplomatic and economic bridge
As vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20 percent of Lebanon’s economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country’s leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back together.
Lebanon’s agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country’s once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation.
The World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90 percent of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks collapsed.
Tourism is seen by Lebanon’s leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries — and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities.
“It’s the thing that makes most sense, because that’s all Lebanon can sell now,” said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank.
With summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been brisk.
At the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon’s ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. “I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,” he said.
On a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path.
“We are happy, and everyone here is happy,” said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. “After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.”
Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon’s economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and waste.
Lebanon has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and water.
Without those and other reforms, Lebanon’s wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a “morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain” rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib said.
The tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun.
“But we’re talking about subjects we never talked about before,” she said. “And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn’t serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.”


UN chief condemns Israel strikes on Syria: spokesman

UN chief condemns Israel strikes on Syria: spokesman
Updated 20 sec ago
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UN chief condemns Israel strikes on Syria: spokesman

UN chief condemns Israel strikes on Syria: spokesman
The Secretary-General further condemns Israel’s escalatory airstrikes on Suweida and Daraa

UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Israel’s air strikes on Syria Wednesday as the country puts pressure on Damascus to protect the Druze minority following clashes.

“The Secretary-General further condemns Israel’s escalatory airstrikes on Suweida, Daraa and in the center of Damascus, as well as reports of the IDF’s redeployment of forces in the Golan,” Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

EU refusal to suspend Israel agreement a ‘cruel and unlawful betrayal’: Amnesty chief

EU refusal to suspend Israel agreement a ‘cruel and unlawful betrayal’: Amnesty chief
Updated 18 min 18 sec ago
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EU refusal to suspend Israel agreement a ‘cruel and unlawful betrayal’: Amnesty chief

EU refusal to suspend Israel agreement a ‘cruel and unlawful betrayal’: Amnesty chief
  • Agnes Callamard: ‘Greenlight’ being given to continue genocide, occupation, apartheid
  • ‘This is more than political cowardice. Every time the EU fails to act, the risk of complicity in Israel’s actions grows’

LONDON: The EU’s refusal to suspend its association agreement with Israel is a “cruel and unlawful betrayal” of European values, the head of Amnesty International has said.

Agnes Callamard’s statement came after the bloc decided against suspending the agreement, dashing hopes that the EU would take a unified stand against Israel’s war in Gaza and its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.

“The EU’s refusal to suspend its agreement with Israel is a cruel and unlawful betrayal — of the European project and vision, predicated on upholding international law and fighting authoritarian practices, of the European Union’s own rules and of the human rights of Palestinians,” she said.

“European leaders had the opportunity to take a principled stand against Israel’s crimes, but instead gave it a greenlight to continue its genocide in Gaza, its unlawful occupation of the whole Occupied Palestinian Territory and its system of apartheid against Palestinians.”

EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to review 10 options for potentially suspending the agreement, in full or in part.

These included a full suspension, a pause on preferential trade and research, a weapons embargo, sanctions on Israeli ministers, and ending visa-free travel for Israeli citizens to Europe. However, ministers opted against taking any of the options.

Callamard said: “The EU’s own review has clearly found that Israel is violating its human rights obligations under the terms of the association agreement.

“Yet, instead of taking measures to stop it and prevent their own complicity, member states chose to maintain a preferential trade deal over respecting their international obligations and saving Palestinian lives.

“This is more than political cowardice. Every time the EU fails to act, the risk of complicity in Israel’s actions grows.

“This sends an extremely dangerous message to perpetrators of atrocity crimes that they will not only go unpunished but be rewarded.”

Amnesty International, in a statement after the EU decision, highlighted the precedence of international law over EU and national law.

Last July, the International Court of Justice described Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories as illegal.

EU members must take measures to act based on that opinion under international law, Amnesty said.

“Victims are entitled to far more than empty words,” Callamard said. “Member states must now take matters into their own hands and unilaterally suspend all forms of cooperation with Israel that may contribute to its grave violations of international law, including a comprehensive embargo on the export of arms and surveillance equipment and related technology, and a total ban on trade with and investment in Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”


UK foreign secretary suggests Israeli minister could face sanctions over Gaza camp plans

UK foreign secretary suggests Israeli minister could face sanctions over Gaza camp plans
Updated 15 min 9 sec ago
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UK foreign secretary suggests Israeli minister could face sanctions over Gaza camp plans

UK foreign secretary suggests Israeli minister could face sanctions over Gaza camp plans
  • David Lammy refers to previous actions against two other Israelis ministers when asked about Israel Katz’s proposals to relocate Palestinians in southern Gaza
  • British government under increasing internal pressure for stronger stance against Israel amid daily atrocities

LONDON: The UK foreign secretary has suggested that Israel’s defense minister could be sanctioned over plans to relocate Gaza’s population into a camp in the south of the territory.

Israel Katz told Israeli media last week that he wanted to establish what he described as a “humanitarian city” amid the ruins of Rafah to initially house 600,000 people.

Those entering the camp would be screened to ensure they were not Hamas members, and would not be allowed to leave. The aim would be to move the entire population of Gaza — more than 2 million people — inside the zone. 

The plans have been widely condemned, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees describing the proposed site as a “concentration camp” that would deprive Palestinians of their homeland.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the International Development Committee on Wednesday that he condemned the “unconscionable” plans in the strongest terms.

Asked whether he would consider sanctions against Katz similar to those imposed by the UK against Israel’s far-right government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich last month, Lammy said he could not comment on sanctions that are under consideration.

“But you have heard my statement about what has been said by minister Katz and you will have heard my statements previously about ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir and then the subsequent decision that I took.

“No defense minister should be talking about effectively holding people, unable to leave, presumably, in the manner in which he described,” Lammy added.

The UK government is coming under increased pressure, including from within its own ranks, to take further action against Israel amid daily reports of atrocities in Gaza.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he was “appalled” by further reports of civilians being killed in the enclave, “particularly when they are trying to access aid.”

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by gunfire in recent weeks as they attempted to access aid distributed by the widely criticized Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is run by the US and Israel. 

“Each of those incidents does need to be fully and transparently investigated,” Starmer said. 

But the prime minister has been accused by his own MPs of not taking a sufficiently tough stance against Israel for its actions in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2023.

Labour MP Imran Hussain angrily asked Starmer in parliament on Wednesday “how many more horrors must we witness” before the prime minister imposes against Israel the same scale of sanctions that the UK has placed on Russia for its Ukraine invasion.

Last week, almost 60 Labour MPs sent a letter to Lammy responding to Katz’s Gaza plans in which they demanded the UK immediately recognize Palestine as a state, The Guardian reported.

“By not recognizing (Palestine) as a state, we undermine our own policy of a two-state solution and set an expectation that the status quo can continue and see the effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory,” the MPs warned.

Asked again on Wednesday whether the UK would recognize Palestinian statehood, Lammy insisted the “symbolic” action needed to be “part of a process,” including the agreement of a ceasefire.

During a state visit to the UK last week, French President Emmanuel Macron urged Starmer to recognize Palestine in tandem with France. He said the move would initiate a political momentum which is “the only path to peace.”

France has suggested it will go ahead with recognition during an international UN conference on a two-state solution later this month. It is co-hosting the event with Saudi Arabia at the UN headquarters in New York with the aim of adopting concrete measures toward implementation of a two-state solution.


Palestinian Authority warns of Israeli plan to transfer control over Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque to settlement council

Palestinian Authority warns of Israeli plan to transfer control over Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque to settlement council
Updated 16 July 2025
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Palestinian Authority warns of Israeli plan to transfer control over Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque to settlement council

Palestinian Authority warns of Israeli plan to transfer control over Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque to settlement council
  • Ministry calls on UNESCO, which had designated the Ibrahimi Mosque as a World Heritage site in 2017, to intervene and halt the plan
  • Tayseer Abu Sneineh, mayor of Hebron, said the municipality “rejects the decision in full, and considers it a political, cultural and religious aggression”

LONDON: The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has warned about the consequences of imposing Israeli settler control over the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron city, south of the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday.

The ministry said that Israel’s decision to transfer the management of the mosque, known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs, to a settlement council is “an unprecedented move to impose control over it, Judaize it, alter its identity, and a blatant violation of international law and UN resolutions.”

Israeli media reported on Wednesday that the Israeli Civil Administration, which operates under the Ministry of Defense and governs the West Bank, has transferred the management and supervision of the Ibrahimi Mosque from the Hebron municipality to the religious council of the Kiryat Arba settlement.

The ministry called on UNESCO, which had designated the Ibrahimi Mosque as a World Heritage site in 2017, to urgently intervene and halt the implementation of this plan.

Tayseer Abu Sneineh, mayor of Hebron, stressed that “the transfer of the powers of the Ibrahimi Mosque administration (to the settlement’s religious council) is an assault on the civilization of the city and a blatant violation of international law.”

Abu Sneineh said that the Israeli Civil Administration, officially known as the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, has not yet officially handed over the decision to the city’s municipality.

He said that Israeli violations of the Ibrahimi Mosque’s sanctity began shortly after the city and West Bank were occupied in 1967, when settlers held a collective wedding at the site.

“We reject the decision in full, and consider it a political, cultural and religious aggression against the city of Hebron,” Abu Sneineh told Wafa news agency.

Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh, director of the Ibrahimi Mosque, said they have not received official notification about the transfer of administration powers, emphasizing that the mosque is a purely Islamic site and part of Islamic endowment property.

The Ibrahimi Mosque is in Hebron’s Old City, where about 400 settlers are protected by around 1,500 Israeli soldiers and surrounded by numerous military checkpoints.

Since 1994, Israel has spatially divided the Ibrahimi Mosque into 63 percent for Jews and 37 percent for Muslims, after a massacre by an extremist settler that killed 29 Palestinian worshipers at the site.


A key coalition partner of Netanyahu is quitting, leaving him with minority in Israeli parliament

A key coalition partner of Netanyahu is quitting, leaving him with minority in Israeli parliament
Updated 16 July 2025
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A key coalition partner of Netanyahu is quitting, leaving him with minority in Israeli parliament

A key coalition partner of Netanyahu is quitting, leaving him with minority in Israeli parliament
  • A second ultra-Orthodox party quit earlier this week over the same issue
  • Leading a minority government would make governing a challenge for Netanyahu

TEL AVIV: A key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday it is quitting the government, leaving him with a minority in parliament.

The Shas ultra-Orthodox party said it was leaving over disagreements surrounding a proposed law meant to grant wide military draft exemptions to its constituents.

A second ultra-Orthodox party quit earlier this week over the same issue.

Leading a minority government would make governing a challenge for Netanyahu. But Shas said it wouldn’t work to undermine the coalition once outside it and could vote with it on some laws. It also wouldn’t support its collapse.

The political turmoil comes as Israel and Hamas are negotiating on a US-backed ceasefire proposal for Gaza.

While the shakeup in Netanyahu’s government won’t necessarily derail the talks, the Israeli leader will be more susceptible to the demands of his far-right coalition partners, who oppose ending the 21-month war while Hamas remains intact.