Eco-tourism in Lebanon finds increasing interest

13 Aug 2010 2047 | World Travel News

Alternative tourism is expanding in Lebanon: Eco-tourism is popular this summer, as awareness about tourism activities that help preserve the environment is on the rise.

At the Chouf Cedar Nature Reserve, established by Parliament in 1996 to preserve Lebanon’s natural heritage, the number of visitors jumped by 25 percent in 2010, according to Nizar Hani, the scientific coordinator of the reserve. For Nidal Ghorayeb, founder and director of Esprit Nomade, an eco-tourism tour operator, the changes are obvious. Ghorayeb cites “its popular aspect: people in Lebanon are becoming more and more interested in eco-tourism.” But even if most tour operators or NGOs in the sector agree that it’s booming, the definition of eco-tourism remains vague.

The International Eco-tourism Society, established as an NGO in 1990 to promote eco-tourism as a tool for sustainable development, defines it as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.”

For Michel M. Moufarege, founder and manager of the tour operator Liban Trek, eco-tourism is “simply a respectable way of introducing our activities as responsible, non-mass tourism, environmentally and rurally concerned.” It also implies the involvement of local communities in the tourism activities. “We try to make the local inhabitants participate; we encourage tourists to buy food from them and we always hire local guides,” says Ghorayeb.

Eco-tourism also has an educational dimension.

“We try our best to talk to the tourists, to encourage them to discover the world of eco-tourism and all its activities in order to teach them the love of the nature,” says Marc Aoun, founder and director of the NGO Vamos Todos.

Eco-tourism ranges from activities like hiking or mountain climbing to buying food from local shops in small villages. But for Pascal Abdullah, head of the tour operator Responsible Mobilities and the NGO Lebanese Mountain Trail, a distinction should be made between “rural tourism” in all natural areas and “eco-tourism,” which is limited to protected or fragile areas.

“Not all activities in nature can be put under the label of eco-tourism,” he argues.

“Responsible tourism,” an expression used to underline the importance of human behavior in environmental protection, also triggers skepticism. Andre Beshara, a co-founder of Lebanese Adventure, a tour operator, thinks responsible tourism “doesn’t mean anything – it’s more about responsible behavior toward the environment and local communities.”

Even though the concept remains blurred, eco-tourism initiatives are spreading in the country, and the Lebanon Mountain Trail is a leading example. The NGO established a 440 kilometer-long hiking trail, from Qobeiyat in the north to Marjayoun in the south, thanks to funding from USAID. Given the increasing number of NGOs and tour operators, the two main types of organizations working in the sector, all sorts of activities are offered under the label of eco-tourism. Tourists can choose between hiking, climbing, rafting, visiting farms, camping, watching birds or stars and skiing during the winter.

“Lebanon is a big playground,” says Beshara, to emphasize the recreational dimension of eco-tourism. It can even include volunteering: the tourists combine travel and charity work during their stay, to help local organizations. Residents of Lebanon constitute the majority of the tourists, but eco-tourism activities attract more and more foreigners and non-residents, especially during the peak summer season.

While NGOs receive funding for their activities, tour operators rely solely on the income from their clients. However, profit-making and safeguarding the environment isn’t always a smooth match. Esprit Nomade refuses to take more than 50 hikers on its excursions “because we’re trying to do eco-tourism responsibly,” says Ghorayeb. “Groups always have impact on nature, so we try to limit it.” He readily admits that eco-tourism isn’t a very profitable business, even though it’s becoming popular.

“But we do it out of passion, not for the money,” he adds.

Eco-tourism remains almost entirely in the hands of the private sector, with the few exceptions of natural reserves like Chouf Cedar and Tannourine, or the municipality of Ehmej, a small village east of Jbeil where tourists can enjoy preserved natural life and landscape.

The involvement of the Tourism Ministry in eco-tourism is minimal, while the boom is seeing companies formed under the “eco-tourism” label. Professionals fear it may cause unethical competition and a range of abuses, and turn the environment-protecting dimension into a profit-making one.

“The business works well, but there is a lot of competition, and it is not always regulated and honest. The organizations are not all registered with the Tourism Ministry and it is becoming a mess,” says Beshara. Abdullah says that although he works closely with the Tourism Ministry, he feels that he, more than the government, is making the effort “We wrote a charter of eco-tourism in order to establish criteria, but it has yet to be implemented by the Tourism Ministry,” he notes.

Currently, the Tourism Ministry’s website makes no mention of the concept of “eco-tourism,” although it mentions the country’s nature reserves and traditional activities such as hiking, often associated with the sector.

Eco-tourism professionals would like to see the government establish a legal framework for eco-tourism organizations and activities in order to regulate the sector and promote it among the Lebanese.

The Environment Ministry has just started working on projects with eco-tourism organizations, but Beshara says that “real cooperation” has yet to take shape. “Awareness, though it has increased, is still a weak point,” says Abdullah. The sector appears to enjoy future potential for growth, and the government’s role in eco-tourism promotion certainly has room for expansion as well.