Lebanon’s touristic sector improved in H1 of 2015 year-on-year (y-o-y), on the back of the low base reached last year, the skiing season that attracted Arab tourists and the improved political and security situations in the country in light of the developments that are taking place in the region. Hence, according to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of incomers during by June 2015 reached to 671,393, a 14.72% surge from 585,235 recorded in the same period last year.
The number of Arab tourists, constituting 32.38% of the total, displayed a yearly increase of 9.71%, to register 217,386 by June 2015. As for Iraqi incomers, their number held the largest share of Arab tourists of 38%, and increased by an annual 42.11% to 81,944 over the same period, knowing that Iraqi tourists are actually refugees that are granted a tourist visa. The number of Saudi and UAE visitors recorded the most distinct increases going from 12,778 to 23,133 and from 2,217 to 3,597, respectively. The number of Kuwaitis also progressed by 59.59% annually to 15,496 by June 2015.
The number of European visitors, grasping 32.28% of the total, augmented by 14.28% y-o-y, to reach 216,216. France, grasping the largest share of European tourists at 26%, went up by a yearly 43.33% to 56,171. The number of incomers from Turkey, United Kingdom and the Germany also saw respective improvements of 66.95% to 10,598 and 14.82% to 24,851 and 9.78% to 27,967 y-o-y in H1 2015.
In terms of the number of American travelers, accounting for the third major portion of the total at 17.02%, it reached 114,911 in the first six months of 2015, a 17.32% increase over the same period last year.
In June alone, the number of tourists also progressed by 3.45% y-o-y to 147,064. The tally of Arab, European and American tourists all grew by 2.58% to 38,290, 14.68% to 46,970 and 15.76% to 34,171, respectively compared to the same month last year.
Number of Tourists By June
Source: Ministry of Tourism