Michael Karam
Daily Star staff
June 28, 2000
Tourism bosses say the government in Beirut should open beach-front development and encourage investment along
the unspoiled coastline recently given up by Israel.
“The only thing that’ll bring genuine tourism to the South will be the self-contained beach village like those
operated by Club Med,” said Nizar Alouf, owner of the Riviera Hotel.
He made the judgment during a trip to the former occupied zone organized by Tourism Minister Arthur Nazarian to
promote public and private investment in rehabilitating the South.
His sentiments were echoed by Jean Beiruti, owner of Jounieh’s Bel Azur hotel and head of the Beach Resorts Association.
“The coastline from Tyre to Naqoura is virgin,” he said. “Bearing in mind that 85 percent of our coastline is rocky,
this offers an exciting opportunity for the private sector to get in now while land prices are low.
“I came today to look for investment opportunities. The brave will reap the rewards.”
However, his point is valid mostly for non-coastal property, since the overwhelming percentage of Lebanese coastline
is owned by the government.
Potential investors would have to lease this land from the state, in an agreement that would likely see the property
return to the state.
However Alouf warned that the archaic and confusing laws relating to beachfront property and the awarding of concessions
had created uncertainty within the sector.
“At the moment the law is strangling any investment,” said Alouf. “The private sector will spend. All we ask is
that the government facilitate spending. Because of the sum we pay in taxes, the government is practically our
partner: it has a duty to make the sector grow.”
But he warned that the regional security situation has to improve before the likes of Club Med begins hoisting
its pennants along the Naqoura coast.
“There is an international liability law which places the responsibility for any accident or fatality of a holidaymaker
at the door of the travel agent,” said Alouf. “While the risk of the hostilities is still real, we will not see
a boom.”
As the coastline receded so did the obvious possibilities for immediate tourism. Standing at the entrance to what
were the isolation cells at Khiam Prison, was Jean Claude Coulon manager of the Holiday Inn Martinez.
Beyond Alouf’s assessment that the area needs political stability, Coulon said there must be a grander vision for
the bedraggled, impoverished area.
“At the moment there’s no mainstream tourism here. The area could be developed for trekking or 4X4 driving, but
this will only come about when there is a unified effort to promote these activities.” he said.
The trip took in Naqoura, Tibnin, Khiam, Hasbani, Beaufort castle and Jezzine. The three-coach convoy also stopped
in Tyre for breakfast an unwise choice for those unprepared for the area’s rutted roads and never-ending
speed bumps.
More an endurance test than a fact-finding mission, the trip demonstrated Nazarian’s commitment to his job.
More than one of the VIPs left early, making their own way back to Beirut. But not the minister, who could have
used the excuse of high office to spare him the numbing journey back to town.
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