If this was the objective it seems like they could have chosen a more helpful nationality for the hostages?

Possibly, on the other hand they are citizens of an EU-member state, but one which lacks the internal pull or external reach to shake things up too much. That way they could be held over the head of the European states without provoking too drastic a response. It is interesting that the ransom videos were uploaded from Damascus.

Bear in mind that what I said is just speculation, based on an unverified Security Force source and a bunch of local politicians with axes to grind.

On the other hand the hash families are pretty ubiquitous in the Bekaa, and there's always feuds going on between families and factions so it's possible they've been caught up in something like that. My initial reaction was that while cycling, they either saw (or pilfered) a hash crop or stumbled across a heroin processing operation. If they are quietly released after the autumn cannabis harvest then that might confirm that.

In any case it's a freak occurrence and should hopefully not stop anyone enjoying that beautiful (and normally, resoundingly safe) area. I'll be heading there in a few weeks to enjoy the summer and am not troubled by the odds of this sort of thing happening in the slightest. It's the first kidnapping of (western) foreigners in decades and given the masses of tourists visiting the area plus the rarity of regular drunken violence probably still leaves it a statistically safer place than most of Europe and the US.

good news

BBC News - Seven Estonian hostages freed in Lebanon