BEIRUT, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon has witnessed a remarkable growth in the number of Gulf tourists this summer season, said the Lebanese Investment Business Committee (LIBC) on Sunday.
"The number of Gulf tourists in Lebanon surpassed 50,000 this summer," said Rabih El-Amine, secretary of LIBC, quoted by the National News Agency.
Amine said that Gulf tourists praised the high quality of services offered in Lebanon in addition to the feeling of security and stability.
"However, this only constitutes 10 percent of the figures registered in 2013," he added.
Saudi Arabia is planning to lift its travel ban on Lebanon following the government formation, as previously stated by Saudi charge d'affaires to Lebanon Walid Al-Bukhari, Amine said.
Last November, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait warned their citizens against traveling to Lebanon due to the crisis after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's controversial resignation in Riyadh which he rescinded soon after.
Pierre Ashkar, president of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners in Lebanon, previously told Xinhua that tourism activity in Lebanon will improve only when tourists from the Gulf return to country.
Ashkar noted that Gulf tourists are the ones who spend the most in Lebanon. "They also stay for long periods," he added.
