President Aoun stressed the necessity of harmony between measures of combatting Corona pandemic, and preserving economic life in various sectors.
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, asserted “The necessity to achieve harmony between the prevention of Corona pandemic, which continues spread among citizens, and the continuation of preserving economic life in the country, in various sectors”. The President indicated that the “Measures taken to prevent this pandemic are necessary to protect society”, stressing the importance of taking various prevention measures, especially during the holidays, and the activities and celebrations accompanied.
The stances of President Aoun came while receiving the Secretary-General of the Federation of Tourism Institutions, Mr. Jean Beiruti, and the Head of the Syndicate of Restaurant, Café, and Pastry Owners, Mr. Tony Rami, today at Baabda Palace.
The meeting was also attended by MP, Eddy Maalouf, and Presidency Director General, Dr. Antoine Choucair. The situation of tourism institutions in Lebanon and their sufferings due to Corona prevention measures was the subject of discussion, in addition to measures intended to be taken by these institutions during the festive period, to protect employees and visitors, and encourage expatriates and tourists to spend this period in Lebanon.
Statement of Messrs. Beiruti and Rami:
After the meeting, Mr. Beiruti told reporters:
“We were honored to meet President Aoun, in the presence of MP Eddy Maalouf. We informed the President about the problems which the tourism sector suffers from, especially as we are close to Christmas and New Year feasts. During the meeting, we indicated that all preventive measures have been taken in restaurants to confront Corona spread. These taken-measures are more important than those of other countries, such as Dubai, which announced the opening of the Shopping Month in light of Corona pandemic. But today, we did not provide sound incentives to invite people to come over to Lebanon, to spend the festive period. Therefore I would like to draw attention to the necessity of taking a decision to invite tourists and encourage them to visit Lebanon in the coming period, otherwise we will be facing a great disaster.
We have briefed the President on the program which we have set up and he had expressed his support for this step. We hope that a decision will be soon issued by the Interior Minister concerning this issue, in order to support the tourism sector and to be able to introduce hard currencies in Lebanon. This sector was able to introduce 320 million US Dollars into Lebanon, through July, August and September, which has made a positive impact on the economy”.
For his part, Mr. Rami said:
“My colleagues in the tourism sector, especially in the nightlife sector, have put Lebanon on the world’s tourism map. It is not possible for Beirut to be absent from this map during the feast period, and that other neighboring countries take Lebanon’s place in this field. We presented a complete proposal to the President, who expressed his admiration and promised us good. God willing, through it we will be able to send a positive message to all tourists and expatriates who intend to spend the holidays in Lebanon, and our restaurants will serve them while taking all prevention measures, for protecting them.
We are fully prepared by taking various controls and procedures in the next stage, that is from next Monday to January 3rd 2021, and not only during Christmas and New Year nights, aiming to protect our employees, customers and families”.
Questions & Answers:
Responding to a question, Mr. Beiruti stated that the proposal they had presented includes various measures which protect employees, customers and the whole tourism sector, in general. He also revealed that the percentage of people infected with Corona in the tourism sector is very low, pointing out that the problem today is not present in this sector, especially since no COVID-positive cases were recorded among any employees. Mr. Beiruti also stressed that “Today we can implement all required measures agreed upon with the Corona Committee. Mr. Rami went beyond these measures in his presentation by adopting the emptying of restaurants halls by more than 50% capacity and putting barriers between the tables, which protects customers by social distancing, as each table doesn’t accommodate more than 8 people”.
“Sitting in restaurants within these prevention steps is much safer than staying at home, where there also will be overcrowding. Therefore today we should be well-alert, so that this stage passes safely” Beiruti concluded.
Former Minister Safadi:
The President had also met former Minister, Mohammed Safadi, and deliberated with him recent political developments.