Tourleb is a socially responsible tour operator based in Lebanon. We offer personalized experiences through out this very small country, always making sure we don’t break market prices. 3 to 5 local actors directly benefit from our visits, and highlighting local family and women owned businesses, social initiatives.
Tourleb came to be by pure chance
In 2008 Nada and I (Joelle) worked on a project together called Hyphen ISlam Christianity. It was supposed to be a small 20-page book showcasing churches and mosques next to each other in Lebanon. But because we are both way too curious about things. This original idea quickly evolved into a 700-page coffee book table (well, i lie. 693 pages) – a photo exhibit – a documentary. This project became 6 years of our life between production, research, writing, filming, traveling all corners of the country… and touring in more than 20 cities in Europe, North America, and the Middle East.
From there, foreigners and expats and Lebanese in Lebanon started asking us to take them to “page 555, 630 or 265”. We started operating visits to Lebanon on a personal basis, before the identity of Tourleb saw the day in 2013. The original idea was to encourage the Lebanese themselves to go out of their comfort zones and to reclaim the whole country as theirs. But after a while, Tourleb started catering to the travelers, FIT and solo women. It was never premeditated – rather we attracted those who liked our mentality and vision and mission.
Our take on tourism and traveling is simple:
We want you to fall in love with this tiny misrepresented country. We take you to the unknown places, we want you to meet the people, the artisans, the homemakers, the women, men (and other) who make this country such a rich destination – along with the historical and cultural sites. We work with more than 700 partners everywhere in the country, we know the specialists (many of them women) and can cater to truly uniquely catered requests from organizing speaking sessions with female entrepreneurs, to key players in the NGO world, to youth, to local change makers, activists, cooks and chefs… the list can go on for many pages.
We also offer trips abroad – usually to destinations not widely covered from Lebanon with the same mindset and purpose. Our trips are listed on wetravel and are open for any traveler who want to join.
