The first 10 months of 2023 just before the beginning of the war in Gaza and the security issues on the Southern border of Lebanon revealed outstanding improvements in the tourism sector.
According to the data by the Ministry of Tourism, the number of incoming visitors witnessed an annual increase of 21.15% reaching 1,507,458 visitors by October 2023, compared to 1,244,329 by October 2022, 734,743 by October 2021, and down from 1,755,690 visitors by October 2019.
The breakdown of statistics by the Ministry of Tourism reveals that the number of tourists from the top 4 destinations recorded considerable upticks. In detail, Europeans grasped the lion’s share or 41.31% of total tourists. Travelers from the Arab countries came in second, grasping a share of 25.30% of the total while tourists from the Americas and Asia constituted 20.69%, and 4.69% of total tourists respectively.
In more details, the number of European tourists rose by 25.58% year-on-year (YOY) to 622,763 by October 2023. Meanwhile the number of tourists from the Arab countries increased by 13.66% YOY to reach 381,334 by the same month. Lastly, tourists from the American continent grew by 18.44% YOY to reach 311,900 visitors by the first 10 months of 2023.
Historically speaking, the tourism sector in Lebanon witnessed moderate improvements in tourist arrivals in the first 10 months of 2023 amid the resumption of normal activity and the easing of pandemic restrictions in Lebanon. Yet, it is still less than the number of visitors of 2018 and 2019 of 1,671,891 and 1,755,690 respectively.
Tourism activity by October 2023
Source: Ministry of Tourism
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