Lebanon’s touristic sector progressed by July 2015, to reach its highest level in 3 years. According, to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of incomers by July 2015 reached 880,079, a 17.90% surge from 746,456 recorded in the same period last year.
The number of Arab tourists, constituting 30.82% of the total, displayed a yearly increase of 15.52%, to record 271,258 by July 2015. As for Iraqi incomers, their share was the largest among Arab tourists at 37%, while increasing by an annual 14.23% to 101,371 over the same period. Worth mentioning that Iraqi tourists are actually refugees that are granted a tourist visa. The number of UAE and Saudi visitors registered the most distinct increases going from 3,753 to 5,094 and from 24,335 to 29,738, respectively. The number of Kuwaitis also progressed by 20.42% annually to 15,496 by July 2015.
The number of European visitors, grasping 33.55% of the total, augmented by 15.50% y-o-y, to reach 295,310. French tourists, grasping the largest share of European tourists at 27%, went up by a yearly 13.32% to 787,283. The number of incomers from Turkey, the United Kingdom and Germany also saw respective improvements of 40.60%, 16.58% and 16.14% y-o-y to 12,387, 33,554 and 43,386 by July 2015.
In terms of the number of American travelers, accounting for the third major portion of the total at 17.02%, saw their number settling at 160,943 in the first seven months of 2015, a 21.00% y-o-y increase from the same period last year.
In July alone, the number of tourists surged by 29.44% y-o-y to 208,681 mainly on the back of the Fitr Holidays. The number Arab, European and American tourists all grew by 46.93%, 18.98% and 31.28% to 53,872, 79,094 and 46,032, respectively compared to the same month last year.
Number of Tourists By July
Source: Ministry of Tourism