Lebanon’s tourism industry saw a major rebound in 2009 for the World Tourism Organization announced.
The tourism monitoring group found inbound tourism to Lebanon in 2009 to have risen by 39 percent over 2008 figures, with 1.8 million tourists entering the 4 million strong country.
“There are more and more [tourists] every month,” Daniel Eid, Manager of the Eid Travel Agency in Lebanon, told The Media Line, adding that he expects the increase in bookings to continue in the coming year.
Lebanese Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud told local newspapers last month that he expects tourism activity in the country to grow by a further 10 to 20 percent in 2010.
Professor Marcus Marktanner at the American University of Beirut said Lebanon’s incoming tourism brought money both directly and indirectly into the economy.
“By some estimates, tourism will bring 4 to 5 billion dollars directly into the economy, make up 13 percent of Gross Domestic Production [GDP] and another 7 to 8 billion [dollars] indirectly,” he told The Media Line.
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Many of Lebanon’s incoming tourist come from the 14 million Lebanese who have left the country at various points throughout its violent history.
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