| Valentina Petersen |
The Road to Digital Licensing
Tourism licensing in Lebanon is about to move from paper to platform. For years, investors seeking licenses navigated a process spread across multiple offices, paper files, and administrative steps, while ministry employees worked with limited resources to manage an ever-growing workload. The Ministry of Tourism is working on a reform initiative designed to improve both experiences. Led by Youth4Governance (Y4G), supported by OIF and anchored in USJ‘s academic expertise, the initiative will digitize licensing procedures across the ministry, addressing employees’ needs with modern tools to manage applications more efficiently and giving investors a simpler, more transparent pathway to obtain licenses and regularize their status.
Not a pilot, not a study. A rebuild.
11 young professionals are now engaging with Ministry’s staff, mapping and digitizing licensing procedures across multiple departments: hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, seasonal outdoor establishments, and more. From that groundwork, Y4G is building 1 platform with 2 portals; one for investors, to apply for and track a license online; one for staff, to review, route, and approve it, with every file visible and easy to track from start to finish.
Reading legal text line by line. Mapping workflows office by office, process by process. Reviewing procedures, identifying gaps, and refining every detail. This is the kind of meticulous work that makes institutions not only more efficient, but also more reliable, transparent, and worthy of trust
“They do not come to observe the administration from a distance,” said H.E. Minister Lahoud. “They contribute, every day, to transforming it.”
One Partnership, New Challenges
Before joining forces to modernize the Ministry’s services, Y4G and the Ministry of Tourism had already built a strong partnership through Sofra, a digital platform created in response to last Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis. Powered by donor contributions, Sofra transformed generosity into measurable impact – delivering meals, supporting local restaurants, and ensuring full transparency from donation to delivery. Beyond addressing immediate needs, Sofra proved that thoughtfully designed digital solutions can reshape how institutions engage with people and deliver public value.
Turning Conviction into Action
Y4G is built on a conviction: lasting institutional change happens from within. By working alongside Ministry employees, whose commitment has sustained public administration through years of challenges, young professionals can help strengthen capacity and build institutions that are ready for the future.
“Modernizing the state means trusting a new generation, and giving it the opportunity to help build, starting today, the institutions it will inherit tomorrow.” said H.E. Minister Lahoud.
For investors, obtaining a tourism license should be a clear, accessible, and transparent experience. For ministry employees, managing applications should be supported by efficient digital tools and streamlined workflows.