Over 100,000 lost their jobs in tourism sector after Beirut port blast

Destroyed buildings are seen after a fire at a warehouse with explosives at the Port of Beirut led to massive blasts on 6 August 2020 [Mahmut Geldi/Anadolu Agency]

The blasts in Beirut’s port has “wiped out the tourism sector”, the President of Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes, Night-Clubs and Pastries in Lebanon, Tony Rami, said.

Some 10,000 tourism establishments were damaged in the blasts and more than 100,000 people have been left without a job as a result, he added.

Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Rami as saying that the losses incurred by the tourism sector alone from the explosion had exceeded $1 billion.

More than 200 people were killed, 6,000 were injured and some 300,000 made homeless after a massive explosion in Beirut port ripped through the capital last Tuesday. The blast destroyed parts of the city and intensified the economic and political distress which has engulfed Lebanon for months.

Authorities said the explosion was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at the port since 2014.

Lebanon president: Calls for probe into Beirut blast are effort to ‘waste time’

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