JEDDAH, 18 July 2007 — Political turmoil in Lebanon has caused many Saudis to reconsider their annual summer plans. In fact, many are even reconsidering whether to own dream homes in the war-torn country.
In terms of tourism, Lebanon has suffered dramatically on account of the Israeli bombardment last summer, which resulted in many tourists cutting short their holidays and fleeing by land.
Ahmad Al-Ghamdi of a real estate office in Jeddah said Saudis no longer desire to own houses in Lebanon due to the current instability in the country. Saudi real estate investment in the country, he said, has gone down by around 40 percent.
“Saudis are now moving toward owning houses in Egypt rather than Lebanon. Things are not stable in Beirut since the assassination of Rafik Al-Hariri,” he said.
Mona Sayyed, who has been a regular visitor to Lebanon, said she would not risk going to Beirut this year because of what she experienced last year. “We were very excited last time when we went to Lebanon... But we ended up being frightened when we woke up one morning and heard the bombings. The short road to Syria was also bombed and we had to take the long way out. We traveled for 12 hours to reach Syria and then we got back to Saudi Arabia,” she said.
“Although I love Beirut a lot, I am not anxious to go there this year,” said Marwan Ismail, a Saudi father of two boys. “I’ve changed my annual plans. Instead of going to my aunt’s house in Lebanon, I’ll be visiting Egypt instead. It is a good opportunity to visit a new country, especially one that is popular among Saudis,” he said.
Tarik Katoua, a spokesman of Saudi Arabian Airlines, said summer bookings for flights to Egypt are on the rise compared to previous years. “Saudia offices in Cairo and Alexandria have increased their number of staff and working hours,” he said.
He said Saudia has prepared a plan to tackle the summer rush to Egypt by flying 35 additional flights between Jeddah and Cairo each week, 24 between Riyadh and Cairo and seven additional flights on the Cairo-Madinah sector. He said there has also been an increase in flights to and from Alexandria, Sharm Al-Sheikh and Luxor.
Rashid Al-Refaay, regional manger for Egypt Airlines, said the airline has added 300 more flights to Egypt, in addition to various charter flights to Sharm Al-Sheikh and Hurghada.
Muhammad Al-Ashkar, a travel agent in Jeddah, said: “Egypt is the most popular destination for Saudis followed by Morocco and Tunisia, while travels to Lebanon and Syria have decreased by 70 percent as compared to last year. New destinations like Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam are also becoming popular among Saudis.”
Muhammad Al-Habbash, another travel agent, said: “We have more than 40 holiday packages on offer this summer... This is in addition to the various holiday packages that are created for special customers.”
