Rio De Janeiro – #1 destination for 2013 as per the New York Times
If you are wondering why Lebanon was left out of the New York Times’ top 46 destinations for 2013, or was dubbed unsafe by the Lonely Planet as an unsafe destination for 2013, here are few points that I believe have contributed to this “achievement”:
1- Transportation: Closing the airport road has become so frequent it is becoming safer to land in Syria than in Beirut.
2- Food: Rotten products (Meat/Fish etc ..) were sold in tons to hotels, restaurants and pubs causing a major scandal that was never resolved properly (not to my knowledge).
3- Pollution: Lebnen “El Akhdar”‘s severe pollution is contaminating cheese and meat products.
4- Health: Over 100 types of medications were illegally distributed to hospitals and pharmacies for over 10 months and we never knew how the investigation ended
5- Corruption: Lebanon isamong the most corrupted countries in the world.
6- Music: Myriam Klink is the hottest topic of the year.
7- Security: Kidnapping foreigners is now a national sport thanks to the Mokdad family.
8- LifeStyle: Most Restaurants and nightclubs are overpriced, Hotels are expensive, Taxis want to rip you off and Customer Service is still relatively bad.
9- Business: Young Militia Fighters and Leaders of armed group are among the best paid part-time jobs in Lebanon.
10- Standards of living: No electricity, no water, no parks, lousy internet, bad network coverage, highest rent in the region, 10 Amps for 250$, crimes on the rise, bad roads, crazy drivers etc …
Oh and the Ministry of Tourism is not so sure we should be telling the tourists about the promotional packages and confusing the hell out of them with their ads.