But by 2012 visitor figures had dropped to 1.36 million, which was the start of a five-year decline in numbers and empty hotel rooms. By comparison neighbouring Turkey saw 31.8 million visitors that year, whilst Egypt received 11.2 million tourists.
Te decline in tourism was mostly due to the deterioration of political stability and the Syrian crisis, which caused a knock-on effect upon the flow of international visitors to the Middle East region, in particular to Lebanon. It was estimated that the number of international tourists to Lebanon decreased by more than 50 per cent between 2012 and 2013, falling to 0.6 million in 2013.
With the new President Michel Aoun in place by 2016, however, things began to improve and visitors began to return. In 2017, 1.85 million visitors arrived in Lebanon, an 11 per cent increase compared to the previous year and in
economic instability in 2019 scared many tourists away, whilst Covid and the blast in Beirut port in 2020 all put the kibosh on a promising tourism sector. Lebanon saw a 73 per cent decline in tourism receipts in 2020 compared to the previous year down to $2.3bn.
In June this year, in a bid to resurrect the tourism sector, Lebanon’s Tourism Minister Walid Nassar, launched a campaign in a bid to encourage its Lebanese expat community to return home for the summer. Te campaign ‘Ahla Bhal Talleh’ (Welcome to Lebanon) mostly amounted to a series of billboards near the airport with images of mountains and landscapes.
Whilst Lebanon has around five million population it is estimated that somewhere between 11 and 18 million Lebanese live abroad.
Around 1.2 million tourists were expected to visit Lebanon in the summer of this year. Estimates
In June this year, in a bid to resurrect the tourism sector, Lebanon’s Tourism Minister Walid Nassar, launched a campaign in a bid to
encourage its Lebanese expat community to return home for the summer. The campaign ‘Ahla Bhal Talleh’ (Welcome to Lebanon) mostly amounted to a series of billboards near the airport with images of mountains and landscapes.
2018 the country was voted as one of the top 10 destinations for tourism, whilst in 2019 around 1.94 million tourists visited the country.
A steady increase since 2017 has been recorded with around two million visitors annually on average. Annual tourism receipts generate around US$7bn to US$8bn – around 16 per cent of the GDP – whilst the tourism sector is one of the largest employers in the country, creating 144,300 direct jobs and almost 400,000 indirect jobs.
Ten it all went pear-shaped. Political and
suggested between 110 and 120 planes would land daily at the airport bringing between 18,000 and 20,000 people into the country every day over the summer period.
Te hope was the summer season would see around US$2 and US$3bn flow into Lebanon whilst restaurant and establishments would be open to recoup some major losses and cash in on the anticipated busy season.
Figures have been promising so far. Te first half (January to June) of this year saw a total of 570,700 visitors to Lebanon, up from 291,500
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P59
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