With the People of Tourism and Summering

Among the most important resources on which our national economy rests are tourism and summering. Can Lebanon — a country suited to tourism in many respects, such as its geographical position, its Eastern character, its historical landmarks, and the rest — follow Europe's example and devote all its efforts to the tourist equipment that would enable it to turn to account both nature and the legacies of the passing generations? Unfortunately the country is still unable to keep pace with the European summer resorts, even though we surpass them thanks to:

1 - Its four seasons, or natural seasons.

2 - The healthfulness of its climate.

3 - The beauty of its regions.

4 - Its varied elevations — the shore, the mountain, the snow.

5 - Its rare antiquities.

And The Woman's Voice, which enters every field, whether to enlighten its readers or to urge them to do their duty toward their beautiful country, presents during the season a report — we do not say comprehensive, or exhausting everything the science of economics prepares by way of study, but everything we are moved to notice on the margin of our life as individuals and as a community. Here is the magazine's correspondent keeping an appointment with Mr. Wadih Ramadan, deputy commissioner, and Mr. Camille Helou of the accounting department.

Place: the Commissariat of Tourism and Summering, the Tartouni Building, Bechara El-Khoury Street.

Time: Spring 1953

Ramadan — We welcome woman, together with the mission she cares about, which we can entrust to her: rearing the young generation with a tourist upbringing.

The correspondent — Do you mean training in orderliness, or the ruling of temperament?

Ramadan — I mean that in addition to the love of the guest that is born in us, we lack the love of order in dealing with him. The village woman who seizes the chance of the summer visitor's presence to sell him five eggs for a lira must understand that her extortion will recoil upon her; whereas her profit, if she sold him double the quantity at the same price — a reasonable price — would grow with the increase in the number of buyers of her wares.

Helou — Or that our guest should wake at four in the morning to the shouting of the landlord and his six children burrowing into the depths of a fig tree whose branches all but enter through his window, so as to sell him the figs in the morning!

The correspondent — What attracts the tourist more than anything else?

Helou — Lower prices are among the strongest attractions for the tourist.

The correspondent — How much do you reckon the government spent last year on the travel allowance?

Helou — The financial allocation for travel came to less than a million liras, that is, 1,450,000.

The correspondent — That is an exorbitant figure!

Ramadan — But do not forget that what tourists spent in Lebanon last year, that is in 1952, was 6,000,000 Lebanese liras according to the official statistics. From this industry 10,000 investors and employees make their living, supporting approximately 30,000 persons, most of them of the middle or the poor class. To this number are added 2,000 car drivers, who likewise support 8,000 persons of the poor class. And I am not counting the farmers, the shopkeepers, the employees of the transport and travel companies, the tradesmen, etc... There is no doubt that all of these turn the seasons of tourism and summering to account, and their benefits are distributed over most classes of Lebanon's population.

Helou — You see that tourism is no longer merely a matter of exploiting what nature has bestowed. It is a science for providing health, comfort, rest, and peace of mind. Or, in a more general word, tourism is a product for export that is consumed locally and whose value is paid in scarce currency.

The correspondent — Some neighboring Eastern newspapers fault us for the dearness of our prices and the multitude of our cars.

Ramadan — The dearness of prices: I think we cannot but take a look at the state of the economical hotels. For whenever we speak of tourism we mention hotels, since there is no tourism without hotels.

Madam: the Lebanese is energetic and enterprising. The Lebanese have ventured hotel capital of no less than 1,450,000,000 Lebanese liras, and with it they have equipped 585 hotel establishments containing 7,032 rooms and 14,351 beds. With this enormous capital Lebanon has been able to receive, in:

Year / Summer visitors / Tourists
1950 / 174,175 / 504,800
1952 / 244,000 / 774,221
1953 / 204,000 / 894,000

And you will be surprised if I tell you that, with the great numbers increasing year by year, we still lack improvement and construction, for modern development demands abundant comfort in the existing hotels. How, do you suppose, is this need to be met?

The correspondent — Do you mean to say that you lack money?

Helou — Nothing else. A large sum for hotel loans must be set aside, at a very low rate of interest, for a period of twenty-five years, for example, provided that the terms of this lending are studied and regulated. I am fully confident that providing the money will lead to a building renaissance in the hotel field which will without doubt lighten the unemployment crisis in the country, and secure a livelihood for a very large group of the Lebanese.

The correspondent — And the multitude of cars? A European tourist said in an Egyptian newspaper: "In Lebanon there are as many cars as there are men."

Helou — Madam, the multitude of cars is not so much a fault as is the lack of order among them — such as the failure to place a partition between driver and passenger in the taxi, with the official tariff posted. It is absolutely inadmissible that the tourist be toyed with by the hands of drivers, porters, and hangers-on; and we urge woman to pursue her war upon the begging parasites.

The correspondent — Is there a penalty the Commissariat imposes, for instance, on the greedy among the operators of hotels, restaurants, or places of amusement?

Ramadan — In the law on the operation of hotels and places of amusement, Article 33 provides for a fine of from 100 to 10,000 Lebanese liras for every violation of the provisions of the law, which requires the hotel owner to submit to the Commissariat the prices he collects.

The correspondent — And who carries out the inspection for violations?

Ramadan — In the past we relied on the police of the General Security; at present we have a special police of our own, attached to several offices in Beirut and the summer-resort towns. And, as I said at the beginning, the hope of Lebanon as a successful summering and tourist country is bound to a great extent to the activity of woman, whether in the field of health, of art, or of the economy. The Commissariat is ready to extend to her whatever help it can, hoping that this interview with "the magazine" — which is her "voice" — will be the opening of a solidarity that will carry our Lebanon up to the rank of the tourist nations of the world.