The President was briefed by Minister Nassar on ministerial measures to enhance the tourist season.

​President Aoun deliberated Akkar needs with former Minister Al-Sarraf and former MP Hussein.

Minister Nassar: "We are approaching a promising tourism stage, and we will launch an incentive package and an advertising campaign that will affect all of Lebanon".

Minister Nassar: "We asked tourist institutions to price in dollars, provided that the bill is in Lebanese pounds".

President Aoun signed a decree amending the maximum earnings subject to deductions for the Maternity and Sickness Insurance Branch.

Tourism Minister, Walid Nassar, asserted that "Lebanon is on the verge of a promising tourism stage", revealing an advertising campaign that the Ministry of Tourism will launch from the airport in the next two days which will affect all of Lebanon, and a package of tourism incentives that will be announced soon.

Minister Nassar's positions came after meeting President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, today at Baabda Palace.

The Tourism Minister briefed President Aoun on the measures taken by his Ministry to enhance the tourism season in Lebanon, in addition to the number of tourists expected to visit Lebanon during this season.

Statement:

After the meeting, Minister Nassar made the following statement:

"The most important thing that I discussed today with the President is the tourism issue. Lebanon is on the verge of a very promising tourism stage.

I briefed the President about numbers in terms of the number of tourists which we expect to visit Lebanon, and the measures taken by the Ministry of Tourism with the private sector and tourist institutions, starting with the advertising campaign that we will launch in the next two days from Beirut airport.

Here, I say that when officials treat all political parties and the private sector with respect, we will reach the results which we seek. We have reached our goal, and God willing, you will see in the next two days that the advertising campaign will reach all of Lebanon, not just the airport road.

We also tackled political issues, including assigning a premier to form the government, as it is necessary that the constitutional entitlement take place on time, and it will be, God willing, and we ask the political parties and the elected Parliament in particular to be up to the responsibility and that the honorable representatives implement what they promised. We also discussed the demarcation of borders and living and economic matters".

About tourist incentives, Minister Nassar said "The number of flights to Lebanon should increase, and in this regard we are in contact with airlines, and there will be a package of incentives, as we did last December, which we will announce soon".

About pricing in dollars and the criticisms at the Ministry of Tourism in this regard for its directives to tourists while the Lebanese citizen is still being paid in Lebanese pounds, Minister Nassar replied: "There is confusion in this matter. That is, the Lebanese citizen who has an income in Lebanese pounds or the expatriate who has hard currency pays in Lebanese pounds, and thus the state benefits from the taxes that are due to its treasury, and we have created competition so that there is a uniform price in restaurants and no matter how much the dollar price changes, the prices remain fixed. Also, we have helped the Consumer Protection Department in the Ministry of Economy to monitor prices, especially since we were not monitoring prices because each institution was pricing according to what it liked and at a certain exchange rate".

Asked if there is a possibility of monitoring these issues, the Tourism Minister replied "As a Ministry of Tourism, we do not monitor prices but quality, and we rely on the consumer and the visitor, as he is the one who determines where is the best and decides where he will go, and the tourist establishments must therefore satisfy their visitors".

Former Minister Al-Sarraf:

President Aoun met former Minister Yaacoub Al-Sarraf and deliberated with him general affairs, and developmental issues in the Akkar region.

Al-Sarraf said that he raised the issue of the military hospital to be established in the region due to its importance for the people of Akkar, especially the military who are still in service or retired. It also raised the necessity of separating the series of ranks and salaries for the military from the series of civil servants' salaries.

Al-Sarraf also indicated that he discussed the necessity of releasing the detainees in the case of the Beirut port explosion, after nearly two years of their arrest, which contradicts the laws in force.

Former MP Hussein:

The President received former MP Mustafa Hussein.

Hussein wished to complete the implementation of the projects that were developed for Akkar region and prepare additional development projects, pointing out that the people of the region suffer from chronic deprivation.

"We are confident that President Aoun is following up on these conditions and working to provide appropriate solutions to it, and the formation of a new government that can begin to implement these projects must be expedited" Hussein said.

Decree:

The President signed Decree No. 9415 dated June 16, 2022 amending the maximum earnings subject to deductions for the sickness and maternity insurance branch stipulated in Article 68 (paragraph 2) of the Social Security Law to five million Lebanese pounds.

This decree will be effective as of the first of the month following the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.​

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