Lebanon’s Skiing Slopes Boost Tourists’ Number in January

The number of total incomers to Lebanon significantly rose in January due to improving political and security conditions in the country and in the region. With substantial amounts of snowfall, winter sports season turned fruitful in the beginning of 2015 and was mainly behind the progress in tourism activity over the period.Accordingly, and with Lebanon standing as one of the few countries in the Mediterranean coast to offer travelers skiing pleasure, the total number of arrivals in January 2015 edged up by 22.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 90,784.

In terms of nationalities, Arab tourists, constituting 38.3% of the total, displayed the largest y-o-y growth of 38.4%, to settle at 34,734. While Jordanian tourists posted a 5.3% annual decline in their number to 4,658, incomers from GCC countries considerably visited Lebanon in January despite their countries’ travel warnings to Lebanon. In details, arrivals from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates increased from 2,204, 1,366 and 232 to 5,142, 3,080 and 569, respectively. Thus, Iraqi and Egyptian nationals maintained their respective 35% and 17% leading stakes among Arab tourists, rising by 33.9% and 27.9% y-o-y to 12,194 and 5,908.

European visitors amounting to 30.0% of total tourists, edged up by 13.9% y-o-y, reaching 27,217. The number of incomers from France and the United Kingdom improved by yearly 12.2% and 10.3% to 6,925 and 3,070 tourists in January 2015, respectively. As for the number of American travelers, accounting for the third largest share of the total, they reached 13,540 in the first month of 2015, compared to 11,672 in the same period last year.

The number of African tourists also went up by 12.2% since last year, settling at 4.097.

Number of Visitors in January

 

Lebanon’s Skiing Slopes Boost Tourists’ Number in January

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Ministry of Tourism

 

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