Tourist Spending in Q1 2015 Recovered by a Yearly 11%

Tourist spending in Lebanon grew 11% y-o-y in the first three months of 2015, according to data on VAT refund transactions from “Global Blue”. The improvement of tourists’ spending in the first quarter of the year was mainly the result of the relatively stable political and security environment and the successful skiing season, which both encouraged tourists to visit Lebanon.

With respect to demographics, Arab tourists continued to capture the largest share of spending in Lebanon, led by Saudi Arabian residents with a stake of 16%, and followed by tourists from the UAE and Egypt with 14% and 7% respectively. In fact, spending by tourists from Saudi Arabia saw the highest growth of 41% y-o-y in Q1 2015, which was expected following the substantial increase of Saudi tourists as they almost doubled in January 2015 alone reaching 5,142, up from 2,204 a year earlier. In contrast, those coming from Syria underwent, over the same period, the heaviest spending decline of 24% y-o-y. This could be the result of many factors among which the depleted saving of some middle to high income Syrians in addition to the tightening regulations concerning the entry procedures of Syrian immigrants that were escaping the ongoing war in their country.

As for the number of refund transactions, the latter revealed a 6% yearly progress in Q1 2015 despite the ongoing regional political unrest and the worsening land-border travel. In details, the yearly evolution in the number of refund transactions mainly resulted from the respective yearly increases of 43%, 33%, and 18% in the number of refund transactions from tourists coming from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq.

In terms of spending by category, fashion and clothing accounted for 71% of total items purchased by tourists, watches and jewelry captured 15%, home & garden items and department stores took 3% each. With respect to point of sale distribution, Beirut’s shopping districts continued to attract the most tourists, accounting for 82% of total VAT refunds, followed by Metn (12% of total spending) and Keserwan (2% of total spending). However, spending in Keserwan revealed the biggest improvement of 76% y-o-y from the first quarter of 2013 and was trailed by the 20% yearly rise in Baabda and the 13% y-o-y uptick in Beirut. The only area to witness decrease in spending was Metn, with a 7% y-o-y drop by March 2015.

Spending Evolution Q1 2014 vs. Q1 2015

Tourist Spending in Q1 2015 Recovered by a Yearly 11%

 

Source: Global Blue

 

 

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