According to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of tourists visiting Lebanon, in the first two months of 2017, displayed a 12.25% year-on-year (y-o-y) progress, where the total number of tourists went up from 191,808 to 215,309.
Arabs, representing 40.21% of all tourists, revealed a 26.96% increase to 86,565 by February. This increase is heavily influenced by the number of Iraqi incomers, which surged 36.49%, to 37,237. Moreover, the number of tourists from Jordan and Egypt increased 20.11% and 5.33%, respectively. In contrast, the number of incomers from the United Arab Emirates dropped from 948 to 329.
As for the number of European tourists that constituted 37.59% of the total, it rose 33.91% y-o-y to 80,930 by February 2017. This can be attributed mainly to the numbers of French, British and German tourists which respectively grew by 40%, 33% and 39% to reach 22,307, 9,464 and 9,627.
As for the numbers of American and Asian travelers, they respectively rose by 5.3% and 7.5% y-o-y to 28,710 and 14,013 tourists.
In February alone, tourist numbers reflected a healthy 13.1% progress compared to the same period in 2016.
Breakdown of Tourists to Lebanon by Nationality
Source: Ministry of Tourism