Tourists’ spending in Lebanon increased by 5.47 percent in 2017 comparing to 2016, according to Global Blue’s ‘Globe shopper spending insights in Lebanon 2017’.

The growth was led by Saudi tourists who constitute 14 percent of the total tourists’ expenditures. They are followed by Emiratis (12 percent), and Kuwaitis (six percent).

January, September, August, and July were the best performing months.

“We were expecting a good growth this year, but the November incident did make us lose an advantage. Nevertheless, Year 2018 looks promising if everything went smooth in the election period,” said Joe Yacoub, Lebanon managing director.

According to him, this is the highest increased achieved it’s been over five years. “For the first time, the growth trend is picking up,” he said.

In 2016, tourists’ expenditures dropped by nine percent compared to 2015, which was two percent better than 2014. That year, expenditures were only one percent higher than in 2013, which witnessed a drop of nine percent compared to 2012.