The aim is to foster awareness and visits of a patrimony which, not including Beirut, includes 1927 churches and chapels scattered across 929 different places. Open to Christians and Muslims, the association also proposes regular meetings between the rectors of shrines to better accommodate visitors.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - In Lebanon, not including Beirut, there are 678 patron saints of villages, 1927 churches and chapels scattered among 929 towns and cities. To raise awareness of these and other equally rich and varied data an Association for the development of pilgrimages and religious tourism has been launched, which held its first meeting in recent days in the hostel of Bethania in Harissa (see photo ).

Chaired by Father Khalil Alwan, rector of the Harissa Shrine, the birth of this new association responds to a vote of the Maronite Patriarchal Synod (2007) which had recommended the establishment to fill the gap in this field.

Open to all, Christians and Muslims, the association should serve as a reference for all authorized institutions, NGOs, unions, associations and companies interested in the development of religious tourism, the economic significance of which escapes no one. The objectives of the new association includes the promotion of pastoral pilgrimages, the organization of regular meetings between the rectors of shrines in order to improve the accommodation of pilgrims. Together with the Ministry of Tourism, tour operators and interested groups, it also intends to develop religious tourism itself, in particular to include Lebanon in the regional tourism map.

The first meeting of the new association was marked with speeches by its Chairman, Father Alwan, Antoine Khoury-Harb, a specialist in the history of the Maronites; Nour Haddad, owner of an agency specialized in religious tourism, Claudia Karam for the Ministry of Tourism ; Fadi Daou, president of Adyan association; Husn Daoud, of the Mariam Darb religious association; Souheil Abou Ghannam, specialist in  Druze shrines; Georges Berbers, a specialist in Byzantine architecture and art and Kheireddine Haidar, a specialist of shrines and mausoleums of the Bekaa.

The meeting allowed those present to develop six themes, each of which was the subject of several proposals: brochures, tourist guides, tourism promotion, tourists and pilgrims, shrines and religious tourism routes in Lebanon and the surrounding region. The new association is preparing together with the Ministry of Tourism, a database of the shrines and of Lebanon’s "Mazars" as well as a tour guide.

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• religious
• tourism
• pilgrimages
• churches
• chapels
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• christians
• muslims