First cancellation of the year!

New Year's tourism

The Gregorian New Year is a festival of earthly delights. True, every year the religious sages in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries warn believers not to participate in this "non-Muslim" festivity, but judging by the busy cash registers on New Year's eve, a large number of celebrants would rather see Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram or Egyptian singer Amr Diab than avoid punishment in the world to come.

These popular vocalists take home between $80,000 and $360,000 in one night as they run from hotel to hotel to appear before a a pan Arab audience that has normally purchased tickets months in advance.

The price of a ticket to Ajram's performance at Lebanon's most luxurious hotel, the Phoenicia Beirut, was some $1,000 while the tickets to hear less popular singers cost between $200 and $450.

Beirut's airport also enjoys the spoils of New Year's eve. Instead of two or three weekly flights from the Gulf states, the planes come in daily and the tourists fill the hotels: their occupancy rate was between 95 and 100 percent over the holiday this year.

However the tourists in Lebanon were forced this year to forgo the main appearance of Amr Diab, even though tickets to his concert were sold out.

Diab decided to cancel his performance, for which every ticket had cost some $2,000, because he was not paid the advance that had been agreed upon with the producer, and it seems the producer has run off with the money.

In Egypt, Muhammad Munir's performance , due to take place outside the opera house, was canceled because of what the Egyptian interior ministry called "security considerations." More tickets had been sold than there were places in the square outside the opera house, and some 50,000 people massed at the entrance and caused a disturbance.

Despite the fact that the Muslim sages grate their teeth, Egypt is one of the prime winners during the Christian holiday season. In previous years, Cairo reported income of some $3 billion during the Christian holiday season. The sums swelled particularly during those years when Lebanon was at war and the tourists avoided going there. This year, Lebanon appears to have made up for previous years' losses. Link