| Abstract: | Lebanon receives about 750,000 visitors a year, attracted by a diverse tourism portfolio with an increasing emphasis on cultural and ecotourism. It was once covered in cedar forest, with the great trees still acting both as metaphor and brand for the country. Today, there are several areas where cedars may still be seen, the most important being the Chouf Reserve, in the Jabal el Barouk mountains near the Bekaa valley, and the famous cedars of the Quadisha valley in north Lebanon (a World Heritage Site since 1998), near the town of Becharre, the centre of Lebanon's ski industry. This paper examines the management of the isolated grove of giant cedar trees at Becharre which has become a sterile botanical garden, and compares it with the living forests of the Chouf Cedar Reserve. The fundamental question being asked here is whether or not World Heritage designation of this natural resource has had conservation benefits, and if such benefits outweigh diminished experience quality for visitors. |
