BEIRUT: Lebanese officials are mulling the possibility of starting low-cost charter flights between Amman and Beirut to activate the tourism season this summer. President of the hotels association Pierre Ashkar discussed this subject with chairman of Middle East Airlines Mohammad Hout.

This idea was floated in recent days after the tourism season in Lebanon suffered a setback due to the political turmoil in neighboring Syria.

Many Jordanians usually travel by buses and cars to Lebanon via Syria during the tourist season, but Ashkar said that the Syrian turmoil has prevented a large number of Jordanians from coming to Lebanon.

“Jordanian arrivals to Lebanon during May 2010 reached 29,000,” he previously said, adding that 60 percent of visitors usually come to Lebanon via Syria. “There has been a great drop in Jordanian tourists’ arrivals this year.”

Decreasing the cost of flights would offer travelers an alternative route. “The cost of the direct flight between Lebanon and Jordan does not exceed $60 per ticket excluding the taxes imposed by the airports of Beirut and Amman,” Ashkar cited Hout as saying.

He added that an agreement to offer travelers a 50 percent discount on taxes exists between the two airports but it is not yet being implemented by the Jordanian airport.

“The Lebanese government is supposed to delegate a minister in the aim of negotiating this issue with the Jordanian government,” he said.

Ashkar said the cost of a chartered flight between the two countries will not exceed $10 on condition that Lebanon and Jordan decrease the taxes imposed on travelers.

Regarding hotel occupancy in Beirut, Ashkar said it stands between 91 percent and 92 percent today.

However, he added, it is expected to drop by the end of this week and with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

“Arabs usually prefer to spend this month in their countries,” he said.

Ashkar believes that the political situation in the country is still not encouraging tourists to come to Lebanon. “The Lebanese media always tends to focus on the negative aspects of Lebanon including food security and pollution issues especially with the beginning of the tourism season,” he complained.