Figures released by the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism (MoT) show that 1.9 million tourists visited Lebanon in 2017, a ten percent increase compared to 2016. These figures exclude Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian nationalities.

July attracted the highest number of visitors, almost 248,000 tourists, growing by six percent y-o-y. April witnessed the highest arrivals growth in 2017, reaching almost 30 percent more travelers than the previous year.

Tourists from Europe led arrivals charts with almost 640,000 visitors. They were followed by visitors from Arab countries (561,000) and America (328,000).

The MoT minister Avedis Guidanian had expected reaching these results, and had told HN that this is the second best achieved tourism result the country has witnessed since the fifties.

Lebanon had scored over two million tourists in 2010, but the number has been degrading and in continuous ups and down until it started steadily picking up by end of 2015. Political and security stability have been at the core of this adequate environment to drive tourists back, in addition to the various campaigns led by the MoT, and supported by the private sector stakeholders.