Travelers who brave the long, hard journey to Jezzine are rewarded with views of a renowned 73-meter high waterfall, but with the town’s only access a nearly impossible road, visitors are few.
The municipality of Jezzine, which sits 950 meters above sea level, has taken matters into its own hands to revive the once-favored tourist destination with a plan to lure visitors, capped with a festival in August.
“The windows of our shops are decorated with handicrafts waiting for somebody to buy them,” craftsman Emile Abdel-Nour, 75, told The Daily Star.
During the war, Jezzine’s residents flocked to Beirut, where they adapted to city life, and residents of neighboring Muslim villages stopped their summer visits, according to Mayor Said Abi Aql.
Abi Aql urged the Lebanese to return to Jezzine and spend their summers there, as they did in the years before the war.
In addition to residents of Sidon and Tyre, Abi Aql said the town wanted to bring back its once-regular guests from other Arab countries and abroad.
He acknowledged that visitors today only take day trips to Jezzine, declining to stay in hotels or rent houses for summer.
“I wish we could go back to the summers of the old days, when we slept on the roof of our houses, because we had rented them out,” said Joseph Qiriaqos, who rents real estate.
Qiriaqos said that there had been no takers, with monthly rents for the summer varying between $300 and $900.
He blamed the lack of tourists on the country’s general economic situation and ongoing road work, a theory backed by the mayor.
Elie Nammour, the director of Auberge Wehbe, the only hotel in town, said he had only booked a reservation for 10 French tourists.
Diab Aoun, the owner of the Sakhret al-Shallal restaurant, was optimistic, saying activity was busy in his restaurant.
Aoun said the season was “good,” adding that he expected more clients.
According to Abi Aql, the municipality has drawn an environmental, tourism and cultural plan to lure tourists and the Tourism Ministry will issue a brochure on Jezzine.
But the big event of the summer for Jezzine will fall on Aug. 14-17, the date of the summer tourism festival.
Roula Khaled, an official at the Shallal Jezzine Club, said the festival would include a Miss Jezzine pageant, an exhibition and the sale of local products, a musical recital outside the Mar Antonios Mon-astery and a rally paper.
The mayor said all restaurants had agreed to lower and unify prices during the festival.
Jezzine Qaimaqam Nabih Hammoud, during a recent visit to shops and restaurants, said the Tourism Ministry was interested in bringing visitors to the town.
The road from Sidon to Jezzine was currently undergoing rehabilitation, yet immediate maintenance work was needed regardless, he said.
Jezzine, with its summer population of 7,000 is desperate to see tourists visit the town.
“There are no tourists,” said Moufid Khaddaj, the manager of Shallal restaurant. “If visitors don’t come, we’ll be in the red.”

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