Tourism spending in Lebanon: Where are shoppers traveling from

igures issued by Global Blue, the Lebanese VAT refund operator for international shoppers, show that total spending by tourists in Lebanon increased by 4% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the fourth quarter in 2012.

Visitors from the UAE accounted for 15% of total tourist expenditures in the fourth quarter, followed by visitors from Saudi Arabia with 12%, Egypt and Syria with 8% each, Kuwait with 7%, Jordan with 6%, France with 5%, the United States with 3%, and Qatar and Nigeria with 2% each. Beirut attracted 81% of total spending in the fourth quarter of 2013, followed by the Metn area with 13%, Baabda with 4% and the Keserwan region with 1%.

Fashion & clothing accounted for 69% of total spending in the fourth quarter of 2013, followed by watches & jewelry with 14%, home & garden with 4%, department stores, souvenirs & gifts, and consumer electronics & household appliances with 3% each.

Spending by visitors from Jordan increased by 39% from the same quarter of 2012, followed by expenditures by visitors from the UAE (+16%), Syria (+13%), France (+11%), Nigeria (+10%), and the United States (+2%); while spending by visitors from Qatar contracted by 15%, followed by Kuwait (-8%), Egypt (-6%), and Saudi Arabia (-2%).

Spending on consumer electronics & household appliances increased by 71% from the same quarter of 2012, followed by souvenirs & gifts (+16%), home & garden (+14%), department stores (+7%), and fashion & clothing (+2%); while spending on watches & jewelry fell by 2%. Also, the total number of refund transactions by visitors in the fourth quarter of 2013 rose by 9% annually.

The total number of refund transactions by visitors from Egypt rose by 25% from the same quarter of 2012, followed by Jordan (+23%), the UAE (+17%), Nigeria (+13%), Kuwait (+9%), and Saudi Arabia and France (+2% each). In contrast, the number of refund transactions by visitors from Syria decreased by 5% and that of Qatar fell by 4%; while the number of refund transactions by visitors United States remained unchanged.

In parallel, total spending by tourists in Lebanon decreased by 9% in 2013. Spending by visitors from Nigeria rose by 14%, followed by France (+8%) and the UAE (+5%); while spending by visitors from Kuwait contracted by 24%, followed by visitors from Qatar (-23%), Saudi Arabia (-20%), Jordan (-16%), Syria (-14%), Egypt (-11%) and the United States (-9%). Also, the total number of refund transactions by visitors contracted by 10% in 2013.

The number of refund transactions by visitors from Nigeria increased by 17% in 2013 and those by visitors from the UAE rose by 6%. In contrast, refund transactions by visitors from Kuwait fell by 28%, followed by those from Qatar (-23%), Saudi Arabia and Syria (-21% each), Jordan (-17%), the United States (-9%) and Egypt (-5%); while the number of refunds by visitors from France was unchanged.