The Global Meaningful Travel Map

Tourleb

Experience diverse adventures in Lebanon, from cultural tours to culinary delights, while supporting local communities and women-owned businesses.

OUR EXPERIENCES
Tourleb offers inbound trips to Lebanon - all over the country, all sorts of adventures – from soft to extreme, gastronomy, cultural, with an emphasis on geo-political circuits, feminist circuits, as well as offering fixer services for foreign reporters.
Tourleb is a socially responsible tour operator based in Lebanon. More than 70% of its revenue goes back to the communities. Tourleb has a pledge to RESPECT: Responsible Travels | Experiential Moments | Sustainable Experiences | Personalized to your liking | Empower Women, Communities and Locals | Trust.

ABOUT US
Our mission is to promote Lebanon abroad and its people, and to offer a different and complete narrative about the country. A mission to make the country a destination, not a 4-day stop on your way to another place. There are so many things in Lebanon that are worth visiting, but without the narrative that goes with it, it is a bit wasted. But it will definitely not stop you from falling in love with the country.
We don’t break market prices. We don’t take commissions on small businesses, family and women owned businesses, etc.
We promote social initiatives, artisans, artists and make sure at least 3-5 local stakeholders are directly impacted during each day of our experiences
We include social initiatives in our experiences, and always pay what needs to be paid, sometimes even for the simple fact of visiting. Over 70% of our revenue goes back to the communities. Our experiences directly and immediately impact locals – often making a huge difference in their lives, at least on the short term. That’s not counting the promotion they often get.

OUR IMPACT
Tourleb works hard on having a regenerative impact on everyone involved in our experiences and travels.
- We offer a complete narrative to visitors, one that talks about the men, and women who shaped the country. One where we talk about the good, the bad and the unspoken.
- We created “helping hands helping paws” back in 2020 to facilitate the exchange of medicine between people donating them in Montreal and people needing them in Lebanon. We left Lebanon with dogs to be adopted, and came back with suitcases of donations and OTC medicines to people in need in Lebanon (mostly families). At the time Lebanon was witnessing a painful shortage of medication and access to it because of the economic crisis.
- We created id-bi-id project (hand in hand) in 2021 during the pandemic. The aim of the project was to help local producers sell their goods abroad. Most of these local producers where women living in rural communities or at least not in the Capital.
- Hand in Hand was also behind the latest initiative (2023) of taking local produce and preserves made by women in the South of Lebanon under heavy bombing since octobre 7, and selling them and making sure these women had a minimum income to help them through the loss of work (not to mention anything else).
- We helped distribute tens of thousands of donated money to local NGOs who were helping to rebuild heritage houses after the Beirut Blast in 2020.
- In 2020, we collaborated with a friend to help bring about a project called “Shattered hearts” to raise funds for one of the most vulnerable and affected communities in Beirut after the Beirut Blast – the trans community, still paying a heavy price due to the economic situation and the loss of many progress the country had seen in the last decade. This project helped she light on the plight of the trans community and raise awareness on trans rights.
- We made the choice to not hire within a “classic” pool of candidates but always looked elsewhere: young women, differently abled, retired… it is always about giving an opportunity to those who have the least of them. From our admin to our story tellers, there is always this extra layer to people that we love to foster.
- One of Tourleb’s main values, principles, and drives is to support women owned initiatives and businesses. This means that every experience offered to visitors from abroad or from Lebanon itself will promote at least 3 women projects, initiatives or businesses per day of visit. We created the idea of an outing during which only women projects would be highlighted, from home makers to entrepreneurs. And there are a lot of them in Lebanon.
- We are very strong advocates for inclusion and allyship. As such we are trying - along with many others - to make touristic spaces more adapted.

DETAILS
To learn more, contact: info@tourleb.net

What are your minimum and maximum group sizes?
1-20

Do you require visitors to pre-book?
No

Do you have group rates?
Yes

Do you pay commissions to travel advisors?
Yes

What languages do you offer your services in?
English - French - Arabic- Spanish

When are you open?
Daily from 10 am to 8 pm Lebanon Time / all week long / all year long

What accommodations do you make for people living with disabilities?
Lebanon is sadly not a very adapted country. And even though many hotels offer adapted rooms, there are many challenges to face coming to Lebanon on a wheel chair. We do our best to alleviate those challenges, and work with many partners who are working on being more inclusive. Right now, many associations are pushing for touristic sites (or most of them) being more adapted, as well as venues and restaurants. As for transport, there are adapted cars/vans but no buses.