11 July 2007

BEIRUT: Officials involved with a test program aimed at improving Lebanon's eco-tourism sector said that the program would increase Lebanon's tourism profile and improve the experience of eco-tourists in the country, although some people involved with the tourism industry also complained about the program's implementation.

Lebanese Tourism Minister Joseph Sarkis, in conjunction with officials from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the USAID-funded International Executive Service Corps (IESC) and the Federation of Touristic Syndicates announced plans on Tuesday to initiate the test program, which provides 70 hand-held Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to the tourism sector. USAID will evaluate the effectiveness of the program so as to decide whether to continue funding it in the future.

The devices contain specific software that offers locations of Lebanese eco-tourism sites. The IESC, using a definition from the International Ecotourism Society, characterizes eco-tourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people."

The use of this technology "will help to create new jobs," said Lebanese Tourism Minister Joseph Sarkis on Tuesday. "It will [also] help introduce Lebanon to everyone."

Others, however, criticized aspects of the program, including the fact that the provided GPS maps do not include many of Lebanon's best locations for eco-tourism. Faisal Abu-Izzeddin, Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Lebanon Mountain Trail Project, expressed displeasure that the eco-tourism sites along his organization's 400 kilometer hiking trail were not included on the maps.

"We've been exploring 400 kilometers of mostly unknown areas [of Lebanon]," said Abu-Izzeddin, who added that no officials asked him to provide locations of sites along the trail. "[We are] the heart of eco-tourism," he added.

The PDA program is being implemented through the IESC's Lebanon-specific program Access to International Markets through Information Technology (AIM-IT), which has received two years of funding worth $3.3 million, courtesy of USAID. Tourism-involved entities like hotels and guides will receive the PDA devices on a rotating basis at no cost, and will then lend them out to individual tourists for use - also free of charge.

GPS PDAs electronically link up with satellites to provide people with the ability to view their precise locations on a detailed map. The 70 PDAs provided by the IESC additionally possess information specific to Lebanon not found on other analogous PDAs - allowing tourists to search both for places such as local restaurants and also for broad categories like eco-tourism.

"Eco-tourism is what we're really focusing on," added Megan Powell, an IESC volunteer expert. These devices "increase awareness of rural, undiscovered Lebanon."

However, many eco-tourism sites were left off the GPS maps, both because of time considerations and as a result of the current security situation in the country, according to employees of Orion Digital Navigation, which designed the both the PDA devices and the software they use.

"We had a problem with the security situation," said Ghassan Mikati, a manager at Orion. "It affected the data collection on the ground."

Although the PDA devices offer locations of both prominent and obscure tourist sites in the Mount Lebanon region, the devices only provide maps for well-known sites in the north and the south, added Mikati.

"If we're just going to stick to ... Baalbek, it's not enough," said Abu-Izzeddin. "We want to make sure our...walking trail is featured prominently. For us it doesn't matter if [the devices] are free or cost money."

Other concerns were also expressed regarding the program. The president of the Tour Guide Syndicate Haytham Fawaz said that, instead of lending the PDA devices out to tourists for brief periods, the duration of lending should be extended so people "[don't have] to ask all the time to borrow it."

Officials involved with the program, when faced with criticism, defended their efforts. The providing of the 70 PDA devices is "just the beginning" of the program, said IESC Lebanon Director Mohammad Bensouda. Mikati added that the program "is only a start," and that "you cannot make everyone happy the first time." Orion will also make updates to the GPS maps, said Mikati, updates that will include "anyone who wants to be a part of it."