During a press conference held last Friday at Royal Hotel & Resorts Dbayeh, both the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Avedis Guidanian, and the founder of Globe Network company, Mr. Nadim-Georges Freiha, announced the launching of « Visit Lebanon 2017 ». Attending the event was the President of the Hotel Owners Syndicate Mr. Pierre Ashkar, the President of the Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies Mr. Jean Abboud, members of the press and a crowd of professionals from the hospitality industry, who came to support the Minister in his initiative.
Visit Lebanon is the first international forum dedicated to promote the Lebanese touristic offerings related to leisure or to the MICE industry (congress, seminars, incentives). It will be held on May 25 and 26, 2017 at Royal hotel – Dbayeh and will be organized in partnership with Globe Network.
The Minister stated to the press that this initiative stems out of the Ministry’s intentions to attract foreign tour operators and professional event organizers such as agencies, international companies or associations, that can meet Lebanese tourism professionals, including hotel owners, tour operators, hosting agencies, venues hosting festivals, restaurants, as well as airline companies and other providers. The forum will be executed through already determined B2B encounters between all participants.
Moreover, the Minister announced that more than 850 professionals coming from 65 countries have registered in this event, among them 150 guests who will be welcomed as Hosted Buyers. Those Buyers have the biggest potential to promote the destination on the short and medium terms.
Globe Network has organized several professional fairs in Europe and North Africa such as Pure Meetings & Events at Paris and Meetings Morocco at Marrakech where the International Meetings Forum – Southern Europe & Mediterranean was held. The company will be tasked with the promotion of the event throughout the world, the management of the meeting and the recruitment of Hosted Buyers.
Among the remarkable notes, was the one made by Mr. Pierre Achkar. He criticized the political situation and called on postponing the quarrels till after the summer season in order to guarantee the viability of the Lebanese tourism industry, that has been drained, especially after suffering for more than 4 years from multiple regional and institutional conflicts.
Mr. Achkar further denounced the old publicity campaign on CNN that costed millions of dollars without reaching its objectives. He praised Minister Guidanian for his focused investment which meets the expectations of the Lebanese tourism professionals.
Mr. Jean Abboud also delivered a strong speech and labelled the Minister as one of the best ministers he has known in several years.
Mr. Freiha, from his part, presented Visit Lebanon, and detailed the results of the first wave of communications with registered professionals. He noted that the results exceeded the expectations after talks in KSA, Dubai, Qatar, Kuweit, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Spain, France, Germany, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, India, China, Brazil, United States and many other countries.
Mr. Freiha also spoke of a steering committee for the forum, in which he is member, and that is organized in collaboration between the private and the public sectors. The committee is presided by Mr. Guidanian, supported by Ms. Nada Sardouk, General Director of the Ministry. The members of the committee are Mr. Achkar, Mr. Abboud, Mr. Jean Beyrouthy, Head of Lebanon’s Touristic Firms Syndicate, Mr. Tony Rami, President of the syndicates of restaurant owners, Mr. Haytham Fawaz, President of the tour guides, Mr. Wadih Kanaan, General Secretary of the hotel owners, Mr. Dory Azzi founder of Azzi Holidays, Ms. Aline Ghanem General Director of Exclusive Group, Ms. Sandy Abboud from Lena Tours, Ms. Joyce Mouawad, Director of « Corporate Sales & Marketing » in addition to Mr. Fadi Ibrahim Commercial Director in Royal Hotel-Dbayeh.
Mr. Kanaan talked about the collaboration between the private and the public sectors especially in the fam trips that will be suggested to the Hosted Buyers. Mr. Freiha closed the ceremony by thanking all the sponsors of the event including Casino of Lebanon. The latter’s new president, Mr. Roland Khoury, extended his support to Minister Guidanian by sponsoring the Gala dinner of the forum…