The view from Noir, a recent addition to Beirut’s clubbing scene, over the Lebanese capital’s Gemmayzeh district and port area is stunning. Yet few of Noir’s patrons take any notice of the elegant buildings and the spotlights sweeping the sky from some of the neighbouring nightclubs.

Dressed to the nines, Noir’s denizens are strictly there to watch each other and to be seen in what is, according to some, the hottest new place in town. Noir is one of several such establishments that opened at the start of the summer to take advantage of an unprecedented surge in tourism in Lebanon.