Tourism spending in Lebanon

Average tourist expenditure has reached an estimated $900 - $1,000 per traveller in the years 2000 and 2001 (See Table 1), coupled with a surge in the number of visitors to the country, from 768,568 in the year 2000 to 828, 590 in 2001. The figures available up until July of the present year have already reached 535,294 inbound travelers, with the Minister of Tourism saying that he expects one million travellers by the end of the year. However, it must be noted that an in-depth study should take into account whether Lebanon is attracting visitors who are not of Lebanese origin, in order to determine genuine tourism figures.

Number of international visitors on the rise

Total international visits in the first quarter of 2002 saw a rise of 1.7% from the same period last year, with the figure growing to 7.1% for the period reaching July of this year (See Tables 2 and 3).

Last year’s figures were up 13% from the previous year with an increase in visits from Arab countries of 2.9%. The largest increase in visitors was from the Asian continent, up 43.7% in 2001, while African nations came next with a 19.4% increase. This was followed by the United States, which saw 12.4% more travelers making trips to Lebanon. However, travel was down from the Oceanic countries by 9.3% while the drop in visitors from the South American continent reached 41%.

Occupancy

In terms of hotel occupancy, the total number of visitors residing in hotels and furnished apartments reached 208,000 in the year 2001. At an average stay of three nights per visitor, the total number of nights spent comes to 610,110.

There are currently 302 hotels in Lebanon with approximately 15, 579 rooms, 6,000 of which are situated in the Beirut area. This is in comparison to 1,888 rooms available in furnished apartments. Occupancy levels for the summer of 2001 can be seen in Table 4.

These rates are expected to have yielded an increase of 20-30% in 2002, with the number of visitors being projected to reach 1.1 million (250,000 from Saudi Arabia, 120,000 from Kuwait and 70,000 from the United Arab Emirates). Indicators of the surge can be seen in hotel occupancy rates during the February 2002 Shopping Festival, as follows:

• 5-star hotels: 75%
• 4-star hotels: 60%
• 3-star hotels: 64%

Tourism promotion and advertising expenditures

The 2001 budget for overseas tourism promotion and advertising was $2.5 million, equivalent to 34% of the Ministry of Tourism’s total allocated budget of $7.2 million. In addition, $10 million from the Council of Minister’s budget was allotted for the same purpose.

These figures are in comparison to the 2002 budget, which reduced overseas tourism and advertising promotion expenditures to $2.236 million. The amount is still equivalent to 34% of the ministry’s budget of $6.6 million for the present year. The Council of Ministers also allocated only half of the previous year’s contribution, donating $5.6 million in 2002.

While the funds provided from the Council of Ministers are not specified for any explicit use, the budget for the Ministry of Tourism is distributed according to Table 5.

Tourism Gross Domestic Product

As a percentage of the total economy, tourism GDP reached reached 5% or $837 million in 2001. Contributions from previous years are illustrated in Table 1.

Employment and tourism

This sector employed 24,000 people in the year 1999-2000, according to the National Agency for Employment. This figure represents approximately 4% of the total work force, while projections by the National Agency for the year 2010 put the new figure at 77,000 due to an expected increase in tourism.