When flicking through holiday brochures, one would hardly consider Lebanon to be an automatic candidate as a destination. Tourists are unsurprisingly put off by the dark cloud of political unrest which surrounds the Middle East, while recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon should have deleted the destination off the list. However, Lebanon has since recovered from the conflict and is enjoying increasing numbers in its number of visitors.
There are similar cases of such amazing recovery of the tourist destination: experience shows that consumer confidence can grow back quickly if the marketing strategy is right. Lebanon opened its doors to visitors just 3 months after the conflict, and favorable exchange rates made this destination popular again for European and Asian tourists. This year’s number of foreign tourists has gone up by 7.2%. There is an expected 4% growth in numbers of visitors by next year.
At the World Travel Market, staged in London Nov 6-9, the manager of the Middle East Airlines articulated his desire to see Lebanon return to its rightful place as a popular Mediterranean destination.
