| 03 Mar 2010 |
|
Lebanon posts highest growth rate in 2009 tourist arrivals
- Text size
BEIRUT: Preliminary figures issued by the UN World Tourism Organization indicate that Lebanon posted the highest growth rate in tourist arrivals in the world during 2009 with a 39 percent increase from the previous year, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.
In comparison, tourist arrivals regressed by 4.3 percent globally, by 5.4 percent in advanced economies and by 3 percent in emerging market.
Regionally, tourist arrivals declined by 5.6 percent in the Middle East and increased by 2.9 percent in North Africa. They increased by 5.1 percent in Africa, dropped by 5.6 percent in Europe, regressed by 5.1 percent in the Americas, and decreased by 1.9 percent in Asia and the Pacific.
Globally, Lebanon came ahead of Kenya, which posted a 36.8 percent growth rate in tourist arrivals, followed by Vanuatu with 29.6 percent, Myanmar with 17.8 percent, and Taiwan with 14.3 percent as the fastest growing tourism markets worldwide.
Regionally, Syria came distantly behind Lebanon, as it posted a 10.4 percent growth in tourist arrivals, followed by Morocco with 7 percent, Bahrain with 4.3 percent, and in Jordan and Turkey with 1.6 percent each, while arrivals declined in Saudi Arabia by 29 percent, in Cyprus by 11 percent, in Israel by 9.7 percent, Egypt by 3.4 percent, in Palestine by 3.1 percent, and in Tunisia by 2.6 percent and in the UAE by 1.3 percent.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization projected tourist arrivals to grow between 3 percent and 4 percent globally and by 5 percent to 9 percent in the Middle East in 2010. In terms of tourism expenditures, the United Nations World Tourism Organization said tourism receipts in Lebanon totaled $7.2 billion in 2008, up 31.6 percent from 2007 and constituting the third-highest growth in such receipts in the Arab world.
The number of incoming tourists to Lebanon totaled 1,851,081 in 2009, constituting an increase of 38.9 percent from 1,332,551 tourists in the same period last year. Arab tourists accounted for 42.5 percent of total visitors and were followed by visitors from Europe with 24.5 percent, Asia with 14.3 percent, America with 12.6 percent, Oceania with 3.5 percent and Africa with 2.3 percent. – The Daily Star
© Copyright The Daily Star 2010.
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
More News in Travel & Tourism
Loading ...
Post a Comment
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.