RAMLIEH, Aley: Eco-tourism suffered greatly during the summer 2006 war with Israel, and one of the main victims was the Aley village of Ramlieh, where local investors and other stakeholders had been planning an extensive program before hostilities broke out on July 12.

Ramlieh was at the vanguard of Lebanese villages seeking to cash in on eco-tourism, both because of its picturesque surroundings in Mount Lebanon and because of its prime geographic location - just 40 kilometers from Beirut. It is also the headquarters of the Association for Forest Development and Conservation (AFDC), a key partner for eco-tourism ventures.

The AFDC invested about $5 million to build a hotel in Ramlieh and cut 13 trails (10 for hiking and three for biking) through the forest. The association also trained several volunteers in Tyrolean traverse, an increasingly popular activity in which tourists use ropes and specialized gear to cross ravines. The Ramlieh site is 55-meters high, and the local offer consists of $60 for a night in the hotel and a full day of traversing and other outdoor activities. In addition, some local investors funded a camp and two restaurants on the riverside to encourage tourists to visit the village.

Mounir Bou Ghanem, director of the AFDC's eco-tourism project, said Ramlieh's version of the industry was unusual for the Middle East.

"The profits of eco-tourism here go for the people," he said, "not for the government or for the municipality."

Because of the war last summer, though, most of the season was lost; Bou Ghanem said most of the 5,000 people who had made reservations over the Internet had cancelled. Only a few dozen showed up.

Despite the setback, Bou Ghanem said he remains optimistic Ramlieh will recover its business quickly, thanks in large part to its Lebanese clientele.

"Seventy percent of [our visitors] are Lebanese, 10 percent are from the Arab world, and 20 percent are foreigners [mostly from] Europe and the US," he added. "So when the economic and political crisis is resolved, things will return to normal."

He said the AFDC had planned a variety of initiatives for the summer of 2006, the largest of which was the Annual Fruit Festival to have been begun on August 18. The event - a collaborative  effort by the AFDC, the municipality of Ramlieh, and local organizations - was advertised across the country.

"Over 2,500 people were expected to attend," he added.

One of the chief aims of the festival was to have visitors purchase products manufactured by local residents. Attractions were to have included a variety of games and activities designed to entertain families.

"I had a dream that the festival was perfect and both visitors and sellers were satisfied," Bou Ghanem recalled. But the war "caused huge loses for the village, and especially for people who depend on the income they gain from eco-tourism."

Tarek Salman is one of the local investors who sustained heavy losses during the crisis.

"Our investments, our expectations, our money, all vanished in this war," he said, adding that he had invested over $150,000 on a camp that offers overnight stays in modern tents, camp-fires, food, and healthy activities  in the forest at a daily rate of

$35 per person.

Salman said the previous year was good, with over 1,000 guests staying at his camp. That made him invest more money to enlarge the project for 2006, but the war robbed him of the chance to earn a return on his investment, at least temporarily.

"Everyone had to pay for this war," he added. "Thank God we paid only money - others paid with their lives."

He said Lebanon was the region's best venue for eco-tourism, imposing on both the government and the population an obligation to preserve this rare asset. "In the Gulf they have oil ... Here we have trees."