Number of Tourists Up by a yearly 9% by February 2016

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of tourists who visited Lebanon in the first two months of the year increased by a yearly 9% and totaled 191,808.

Arab tourists, accounting for 36% of total tourists, saw their number rise by 3% year-on-year to 68,184 by February this year. In details, the number of incomers from Iraq, who usually come to Lebanon to escape the tough conditions in their country rather than for tourism, grew by an annual 5% to 27,281 and the number of Egyptian tourists grew by an annual 15% to 12,191 by February 2016.

In late February, the diplomatic crisis between Lebanon on one hand and Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the other, resulted in the issuance of travel bans preventing Gulf nationals from going to Lebanon. Therefore, the number of incomers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE all registered annual drops of 19%, 16% and 1% to reach 6,368, 4,254, and 948, respectively.

The number of European visitors, representing 32% of total tourists, increased by a yearly 9% to 60,438 by February. French tourists saw their number rise by an annual 8.6% to 15,981 while UK tourists saw their number grow by 11.6% to 7,091. Visitors from Germany also rose in number from 6,184 by February 2015 to 6,932 by February 2016.

American tourists, constituting the third largest share of the total, also increased by an annual 12% to 27,256 by February 2016. The number of visitors from the US and Canada rose from 12,017 and 8,330 by February 2015 to 13,703 and 9,513 by February 2016, respectively.

In the month of February alone, the number of tourists to Lebanon increased by a yearly 14% from 85,075 in February 2015 to 97,298 in February 2016.

Number of Tourists By February

Number of Tourists Up by a yearly 9% by February 2016

 

Source: Ministry of Tourism

 

 

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