[Source]
If you are wondering why tourists are no longer coming to Beirut, that’s one way to explain it.
In a recent ranking on the quality of living, Lebanon’s capital Beirut, formerly known as the “Paris of the Middle East,” ranked 171st worldwide and 16th in the MENA region. The annual survey of the quality of living in 221 cities by global consultants Mercer looked at cities from a standpoint of overall desirability.
Within the MENA region, Dubai kept its ranking as the best city for overall quality of living.
“Beirut is 98 spots behind the top-ranked Arab city. It is also 47 spots behind Amman and 30 spots behind Cairo, for example. This shows the work that needs to be done to improve the quality of living here,” Ghobril told The Daily Star. “It is simply not acceptable that the quality of living in 13 Arab cities is better than that is Beirut.” [Link]