Tourist Spending in H1 2015 Improved by a Yearly 7%

Tourist spending in Lebanon grew 7% y-o-y in the first six months of 2015, according to “Global Blue”. The improvement of tourists’ spending in the first half of the year was mainly the result of the relatively stable security environment, comparing to other countries in the region, and the successful skiing season.

With respect to demographics, Arab tourists continued to capture the largest share of spending in Lebanon, led by Saudi Arabian residents with a stake of 16%, and followed by tourists from the UAE and Egypt with 14% and 7% respectively. In fact, spending by tourists from Jordan saw the highest growth of 35% y-o-y in H1 2015, which was expected following the 7% yearly increase of Jordanian tourists (second largest among Arab countries)  by May reaching 28,802 visitors. In contrast, those coming from Syria underwent, over the same period, the heaviest spending decline of 24% y-o-y, due to the ongoing political turbulence in their country.

As for the number of refund transactions, it revealed a 1% yearly uptick in H1 2015 despite the ongoing regional unrest and the worsening land-border travel through the war-ridden Syria. In details, the yearly evolution in the number of refund transactions during H1 2015, mainly resulted from the respective yearly rises of 23%, 21%, and 13% in the number of refund transactions from tourists coming from Qatar, Jordan and Iraq.

In terms of spending by category, fashion and clothing accounted for 72% of total items purchased by tourists, watches and jewelry captured 15%, home & garden items and department stores took respective shares of 4% and 3% each. With respect to point of sale distribution, Beirut’s shopping districts continued to attract the most tourists, accounting for 83% of total spending, followed by Metn (11% of total spending) and Baabda (3% of total spending). However, spending in Keserwan revealed the biggest improvement of 97% y-o-y in H1 2015 and was trailed by the 8% yearly rise in Beirut. In contrast, Mt Lebanon saw a yearly decline of 10% by June 2015.

Spending Evolution Q2 2014 vs. Q2 2015

Tourist Spending in H1 2015 Improved by a Yearly 7%

Source: Global Blue

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