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BEIRUT - The number of tourists coming to Lebanon is expected to reach 1.9 million at the end of 2017, hotel owners said Friday. The Secretary-General of the Hotel Owners’ Association Wadih Kanaan said the number of tourists was gradually growing. He predicted more tourists would spend their holiday seasons in Lebanon.
“Last year, there were 1,680,000 visitors, [not accounting] for Lebanese expatriates, Syrians and Palestinians,” Kanaan said.
For 2017, he said, the association expected to see those numbers rise to 1.9 million by the end of the festive season. He added that the number of incoming tourists might have reached 2 million this year had it not been for the crisis in Lebanon that was sparked by Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s now-withdrawn resignation.
Kanaan also noted that Lebanon’s national carrier, Middle East Airlines, was set to operate 70 additional flights to destinations including Doha, Cairo, Jeddah, Riyadh, Larnaca and Abidjan between Dec. 20 and Jan. 11. Flights arriving from the Gulf states, he said, are fully booked on both Dec. 22 and 23, and planes arriving from various countries in Africa are fully booked from Dec. 19-26.
“Hotel bookings during the holiday season are expected to be the same as last year,” he said.
In November, Hariri announced the planned expansion of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, which was rebuilt in 1992 to accommodate 6 million passengers a year.
Officials insist that Lebanon is more stable than many countries in the region and so there is no reason to shun the country as a tourist destination.
“Last year, there were 1,680,000 visitors, [not accounting] for Lebanese expatriates, Syrians and Palestinians,” Kanaan said.
For 2017, he said, the association expected to see those numbers rise to 1.9 million by the end of the festive season. He added that the number of incoming tourists might have reached 2 million this year had it not been for the crisis in Lebanon that was sparked by Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s now-withdrawn resignation.
Kanaan also noted that Lebanon’s national carrier, Middle East Airlines, was set to operate 70 additional flights to destinations including Doha, Cairo, Jeddah, Riyadh, Larnaca and Abidjan between Dec. 20 and Jan. 11. Flights arriving from the Gulf states, he said, are fully booked on both Dec. 22 and 23, and planes arriving from various countries in Africa are fully booked from Dec. 19-26.
“Hotel bookings during the holiday season are expected to be the same as last year,” he said.
In November, Hariri announced the planned expansion of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, which was rebuilt in 1992 to accommodate 6 million passengers a year.
Officials insist that Lebanon is more stable than many countries in the region and so there is no reason to shun the country as a tourist destination.
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