Year of 2022 witnessed a remarkable increase in tourist activity after two years of lockdowns and social unrest. The tourism sector re-picked by end of the year compared to years of 2020 and 2021 but remained relatively lower than year 2019 with the number of airport passengers in 2022 recording a significant uptick by end of 2022.
In details, the number of travelers in Beirut airport increased by an annual of 46.97% totaling 6.35M passengers by December 2022. In tandem, the cumulative number of tourists registered a 64.72% annual surge to stand at 1,465,953 tourists over the same period. Meanwhile, the increase in the cumulative number of tourists for the year 2022 revealed that Europeans constituted the largest portion of total tourists, grasping a lion’s share of 39.85%, while travelers from Arab countries came in second with a share of 26.97%. Tourists from America followed with a stake of 20.89%, and finally Asia grasped 4.28% of total tourists.
In more details, the number of European tourists rose by 50.66% yearly to 584,224. Most notably, visitors from France, grasping 22.72% of total European tourists, doubled from 2021 and rose from 86,239 tourists by 2021 to 132,746 by end of 2022. In addition, the number of German tourists held 19.55% of total tourists and Swedish held 10.40% of total tourists and grew by an annual 25.60% and 41.58% to 114,223 and 60,783 travelers, respectively.
Meanwhile, the number of tourists from the Arab countries increased by 26.97% YOY totaling 395,405 tourists by 2022 up from 235,713 in 2021. In fact, visitors from Iraq grasped the biggest share of 52.32% out of Arab tourists and added 44.84% yearly to stand at 206,869 travelers by December 2022. Furthermore, the number of Egyptians and Jordanians followed by 17.55% and 14.61% of total Arab visitors and increased by an annual of 79.66% and 144.37% to 69,408 and 57,754 travelers, respectively. UAE tourists, however, dropped by 65.44% yearly to reach 754 visitors only by end of December 2022.
Lastly, tourists from the Americas rose by 66.12% YOY to reach 306,177 visitors by end of 2022, of which 54.16% came from the USA while Canadians followed with a stake of 33.04%. Tourists from the USA actually witnessed a yearly 51.69% uptick to 165,832 travelers by December 2022, whereas Canadians increased by 92.34% on an annual basis to total 101,146 visitors by the same period.
Total Number of Tourists and Annual Growth Rate by December 2022
Source: Ministry of Tourism, BLOMINVEST Bank
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