São Paulo – Lebanon expects to earn a USD9 billion cash boost from 2.2 million tourists this year, up from the 1.7 million visitors hosted last year, when it received a similar USD9 billion, the Ministry of Tourism in the caretaking government reported. Pictured, the municipality of Thoum.
The increase in the predicted number of visitors is mainly due to the highly successful season that runs through late August and are expected to see the figure soar to 1.8 million by summer end. State news agency Kuna said the economy does not benefit in a sustainable manner from the tourists’ money, but benefiters include merchants and retail services.
Promotion campaigns have contributed to lure tourists, Tourism minister Walid Nassar said, adding that the stable security situation also encouraged them to come.
Seventy-five percent of the incomers are Lebanese citizens returning to their homeland, while the majority of foreign tourists are anticipated to come from from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait, as well as France, Germany, the United States, and Australia. Most visiting Lebanese reside in their own houses or rent furnished apartments, and only 10% of them settle in hotels, which have been working at full swing this year.
Translation by Guilherme Miranda
