Holidays in Lebanon

Every time it happens it makes me want to cry.

A destination that's built up its business decade after decade - zapped. Back to work again, painstakingly recreating its tourism infrastructure. Slowly the clients come back, they tell their friends and they come back too. And after a few years tourists, like seasonal swallows, are returning to their old haunts. Locals come to depend on the income.

Beirut is known as the Monte Carlo of the Middle East. Beirut is a place where people can relax and enjoy its terraces, its promenades, its little cafes and restaurants, its nightlife. Beirut is a place that's painstakingly built up its tourist industry again after the recent desecrations.

BLASTED.

Its happened again and again, year after year there's violence and/or a natural disasters in tourist resorts. Naturally, one may think, the tourists stop coming and the locals now have at least two disasters to deal with.

It's no wonder that tourists are dealt with like commodities. That's how they deal with resorts which are after all the places that local people live, work and trade.

As part of my Sustainable Tourism Report which you can buy if you like! http://www.totemtourismmarketing.org
I did a little survey of a couple of dozen tourism professionals. Even though they all agreed that a disaster-management strategies were fundamentally important, only one of the group had one.

Interestingly, there's a new movement in tourism - "Solidarity Tourism" have a look at it: www.africania.org you'll see where its going and how helpful it could be.

After all, we do live on the same Earth, don't we?