In continuation of the series of conferences and workshops around tourism on the Silk Road and the involvement of universities for third age which started in Spain and are supposed to end in China, AUT organized a conference on May 15 in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and the Directorate General of Antiquities.
The president of the International Association of Universities for Third Age, Prof. François Vellas came to Lebanon with the treasurer and director of the university for third age in Sorbonne Abu Dhabi Mohamed Kayal.
Vellas spoke of the efforts by AIUTA to promote senior tourism among member universities given that the association groups 12 million senior students in all continents.
Next spoke Alaa El Hashem UN consultant on eco and sustainable tourism and details about the archeological sites between the villages of Yanouh and Akoura were discussed with the audience.
Jabal Moussa was next with its director Joelle Barakat who spoke through Zoom about the involvement of local populations in the preservation of cultural heritage. She was followed by her colleague Elie Lhalil who spoke of the cultural heritage of this magnificent area.
Takla Khoueyri, a farmer and botanist gave information about wild edible plants found in various areas of Lebanon and their medicinal benefits. She proposed to students attending to go foraging for such plants before the summer season.
The Directorate of Antiquities was represented by architect Dr Oussama Kallab who provided information on the Lebanese patrimonial houses and went into details about architecture specificity of ancient to modern Lebanese houses.
Last to speak was the representative of the Ministry of Tourism Dr Rasha Abou Aweili, manager of the tourism offices. The Phoenician Road as a tourist route was exposed to the audience and the parallelism with the Silk Road was drawn by the speaker.
Awards were then distributed to speakers and to Vellas before a cocktail reception gathered the audience for more discussions.
The conference was preceded by a visit to the DG of the ministry of tourism Mrs Joumana Kibrit by Vellas and AUT VP Marcel Hinain and a meeting with AUT founding president Ghada Hinain and AUT president Chafic Mokbel and senior staff
