Lebanon tourism expected to drop as Syrian conflict continues next door


Skift Take

Gulf countries started issuing travel warnings to Lebanon last year as violence trickled across the border, and Lebanese officials are aware that their most important tourist market won’t return until a sense of security is restored.

Tourism in Lebanon has dropped 13 percent this year, weakened by travel warnings and spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria, caretaker Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud said. Tourism had already contracted by 20 percent in 2012, Abboud said today in a telephone interview. The sector made up 22 percent of GDP in 2010 and dropped to 19 percent last year, he said. The fi