(Note: This transcript has been edited for readability.)

"Tourism in Lebanon was great, of course, because you have the beach. The Mediterranean is one of the warmest [bodies of] water in the world; it’s not an ocean. And you have skiing. So when I was a student, for example, in the morning I would be skiing, in February, and [very] often, we would have very mild weather in February. So by twelve the snow would become slushy, so you couldn’t ski anymore. We would go to the beach and we would swim. Within half an hour you were on the slopes and then back in the water. This is a great adventure that we have; it’s a small country, as I said. The economy in Lebanon is based on the individual. It’s not the government. So the tourism is the individual. It’s not the government. So, lots of countries get money for their economy from the tourism, but it goes to the government. In Lebanon, no. It’s the individuals who collect the money, basically."