Promoting Local Economies Through Community Local Tourism
Inspired by the tradition of annual Lebanese summer festivals, the fall festival aims to increase tourism activities and revenues between September and December, when villages usually go through a dead tourism period.
NCC introduced the theme of an “open village”, following the “open house” concept, whereby the focus was on direct contact between tourists and the villagers. The fall festival season was launched in the 3 villages of Damour, Khraybeh, Ouarhaniye, which are close enough to be toured as a cluster.
Milestones
Outputs
- Local residents trained on the assessment of their village’s valued assets for tourism.
- At least 12 coaching sessions organized with the local communities.
- Narratives produced for each village by village committees and expert, Dr. Mona Khechen.
- Rural tourism packages developed for each village and for the cluster, including a well-designed and tourist-friendly map for each village.
- Two training session organized in cooperation with Al-Majmouaa.
- Calendar of events for the fall festival that was launched in the presence of more than 300 attendees.
- Year-long packages for village tourism.
- 5 to 10 main landmarks identified per village by local committees.
- Several local jobs created.
- Partnership formed between the participating villages, AUB, and the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism (MoT), seeking to promote eco-tourism.
Sponsor
United States Agency for International Development
Partners and Collaborators
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE)
Al Majmoua