Two million
foreign visitors

Europeans top the list of tourists

Two million foreign nationals visited the country last year, just one percent less than in 2018.

The largest number of tourists came from Europe (720,421), registering a growth of two percent in 2019, compared to the preceding year. Most of the European tourists were French, followed by German and British tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism has been deploying efforts over past years to attract European visitors.

The number of European visitors doesn’t have a positive impact on hotel revenues, according to Pierre Achkar, Chairman of the Association Tourism Syndicates. “Europeans prefer to stay in Airbnb apartments,” Achkar said. “The increase in the number of visitors does not mean an increase in tourism revenues,” he said.

Tourism revenues decreased 47 percent compared to 2010 reaching $4.5 billion last year, according to Achkar.

Arab visitors totaled 574,352. Iraqis topped the list, followed by Egyptians, Jordanians, and Saudis.

Approximately 358,000 visitors came from the Americas, most of whom came from the US, Canada, and Brazil.