Lebanon seeks to grow tourism through medical tourism

After three poor years for Lebanon’s tourism industry due to regional and local turmoil, a new tourism minister is looking to expand beyond the traditional Gulf tourists. Michel Pharaon has several plans to give a needed boost to a sector that makes up 20% of the Lebanese economy. One key area is to focus on attracting more medical tourists, “In Lebanon, we have professionals in the health care industry that can bring in tourists from Yemen, Iraq, Libya and Algeria.

After three poor years for Lebanon’s tourism industry due to regional and local turmoil, a new tourism minister is looking to expand beyond the traditional Gulf tourists.

Michel Pharaon has several plans to give a needed boost to a sector that makes up 20% of the Lebanese economy. One key area is to focus on attracting more medical tourists, “In Lebanon, we have professionals in the health care industry that can bring in tourists from Yemen, Iraq, Libya and Algeria. We have a committee working hard on the project. An increasing number of Iraqis come to Lebanon for medical reasons. Health tourism has good potential for the country.”

The need to attract tourists from beyond the traditional Gulf markets is especially important as GCC states maintain their travel warnings on Lebanon over possible abductions and other security threats that have kept many Gulf tourists away since 2012, with the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait governments warning their citizens not to travel to the region.

The main problem that Lebanon has is convincing potential medical and other tourists that the government and their security forces and the Army are in control. Last year there was a series of bombings related to the ongoing conflict in neighboring Syria, but Pharaon seeks to convince people of the relative safety throughout much of Lebanon, “70% of Lebanon has not witnessed a gunshot for the past 20 years.”

The number of tourists to Lebanon dropped by 6.69% in 2013 compared with 2012, while European visitors topped the list ahead of Arabs for the first time in years. While the number tourists from the Gulf dropped, Pharaon says that other Arab markets are ripe with potential, “We are currently targeting Jordanians, Iranians, Egyptians and Iraqi tourists.”