By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent

ROUMIEH, Lebanon, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Fearing assassination, Lebanon's tourism minister rarely moves from his heavily protected home in the hills near Beirut -- while trying to convince wary foreigners that the country is safe to visit.

Joseph Sarkis knows it's a hard sell after last year's summer war between Israel and Hezbollah when Beirut airport abruptly closed, stranding tens of thousands of tourists.

"It's amazing that still people continue to come, they take the challenge," he told Reuters at his home in the Christian village of Roumieh as army troops stood guard outside.

Tourism has floundered since the war, which led to a paralysing political crisis aggravated by the killings of three anti-Syrian lawmakers and a five-week army battle to crush Islamist militants at a northern Palestinian refugee camp.

Sarkis and his colleagues in the ruling majority take elaborate security precautions to foil what they say are Syrian-inspired attacks. Damascus denies any involvement.

In such a tense climate, even Lebanese expatriates, many of whom hold foreign passports and account for a hefty proportion of tourist numbers, now apparently need reassurance.

Lebanese TV channels are carrying spots sponsored by the Tourism Ministry with airport footage of Lebanese arriving to an emotional welcome from relatives with flowers and balloons.

The commercial's slogan -- "Lebanon is the safest place on earth" -- is aimed at Arabs and other foreigners too.

"The message is that Lebanon is a country known for the hospitality of its people. We like to receive foreigners, give them a kiss and make them feel at home," Sarkis said.

TOURISM POTENTIAL

Lebanon has undoubted tourism potential with its lively nightlife, fine cuisine, beaches, ski-slopes and ancient ruins, but Sarkis acknowledged that a full-scale drive to revive the industry must await the outcome of the struggle to elect a new president before pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud's term ends on Nov. 23.

He said the opposition might stage street protests or even close the vital airport road through Beirut's Shi'ite suburbs if parliament chose a head of state not to its liking.

Lebanon's only airport is the easiest route in or out of the Mediterranean country, which borders Israel and Syria.

"We cannot foresee exactly, but if we have a new president for all Lebanese, accepted by the majority and the minority, I think Lebanon will resume tourist activity," Sarkis predicted.

Lebanon attracted just over a million visitors last year, when the war wrecked its target of 1.6 million tourists and $4 billion in revenue and investment in tourist projects. Tourism had been expected to generate 12 percent of economic output. Nearly 767,000 tourists came in the first nine months of 2007. Sarkis hopes for a full-year total of nearly a million.

As usual, about 40 percent of this year's visitors were Arabs, 25 percent Europeans and the rest from elsewhere.

Sarkis said very few came in organised groups, reflecting security fears among tour operators, but he vowed to keep Lebanon on the world tourism map until better times returned.

"We have to explain that what is happening in Lebanon is temporary...and show the real image of the country, not the one people see as a country of war, assassinations and terrorism."

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