European visitors up

Most come for regional business opportunities

The number of tourist arrivals dropped by 12 percent in the first quarter on a year-on-year basis. The number of incomers stood at 274,663 at end-March, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

Arab visitors fell by 27 percent to 9,878. Iraqis still topped Arab tourists, with 32 percent of the total. Visitors from Jordan came in second, followed by those from Egypt.

By contrast, European visitors grew by four percent, representing 33 percent of the overall number of visitors. French, German, and British visitors topped European tourists. Ibtissam Chamseddine, Sales Director at Hotel De Ville, said that over 60 percent of their hotel residents are European.

According to Chamseddine, most Europeans are here for business or business opportunities: “They are waiting for the regional situation in Syria to settle down and the post-war reconstruction to start, so they would rather be close by when it happens.” She said that “many of the European incomers are frequent visitors, as their companies have bureaus in the country.”

Visitors from Turkey are mostly interested in sight-seeing and touristic trips, Chamseddine said.

Tourists from America represented 13 percent of visitors, followed by those from Asia with ten percent.

In Q1 of 2013, the number of passengers at the Rafik Hariri International Airport rose by 11 percent year-on-year to 1.37 million.