According to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of tourist arrivals by the end of 2016 rose by a yearly 11.23% to 1.69M by December. This rise was partly due to the political breakthrough in Lebanon by the end of Q4 2016 and partly due to the rise in the number of tourists from Europe, Arab countries, as well as America, which altogether add up to 82% of total tourists arriving to Lebanon.
European visitors constituted 33.43%, the largest share of total visitors, rising by 11.72% y-o-y to 564,499 by December. Swedish tourists particularly rose by an annual 22.01% to 34,622. Visitors from Turkey and Germany also increased in number by 21.21% and 17.03% to 25,487 and 87,567, respectively, by December 2016.
Moreover, despite the ban imposed during Q1 2016 by GCC governments discouraging nationals from visiting Lebanon in fear of political instabilities, total tourist arrivals from the Arab countries picked up by the end of the year, recording a yearly 8.78% uptick to 522,922, which constituted 30.97% of total tourist arrivals in 2016. However, it is worthy to note that the number of tourists from the UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia were most inflicted by the ban, registering yearly falls of 74.33%, 19.72%, and 15.55%, respectively, to stand at, 2,114 Emiratis, 25,653 Kuwaitis, and 40,391 Saudis.
Notably, Iraqis seeking refuge from their country’s political turmoil fled to Lebanon this year, raising the number of Iraqi visitors to 236,013, up 23.19% compared to the same period last year.
In their turn, visitors from the Americas constituted 17.58% of total tourist arrivals and increased by an annual 12.42% to 296,831 by December 2016. This boost of visitors from the region was mainly driven by the number of visitors from Venezuela, the USA, and Brazil which rose by 24.92%, 13.63%, and 11.54% to 13,208, 154,095, and 17,661 respectively in 2016.
In December alone, total number of tourist arrivals rose by an annual 14.52% y-o-y, to stand at 141,537. The larger number of tourists is mainly attributed to the Christmas and New Year Holidays, as well as the election of a president by November, all of which encouraged expatriates from Europe and the Arab Countries to visit their families and country. As such, the number of European visitors ranked first, growing by 21.74% to reach 46,407. Visitors from the Arab countries followed, increasing by 6.73% y-o-y to stand at 42,190 tourists, of which Kuwaiti visitors’ number notably increasing in December by 52.59% to 3,357.
Monthly Number of Visitors from Arab Countries in 2016
Source: Ministry of Tourism