“Lebanese Debate”
The researcher at Information International, Muhammad Shams al-Din, believes that “there is an exaggeration in the number of tourists coming to Lebanon because this year and last year we noticed that the official authorities and those concerned with the tourism sector consider that everyone who enters the airport is a tourist, and accordingly they estimate the percentage of The entry of tourists to Lebanon during the summer season, while this calculation is wrong and the correct way to calculate the number of tourists is to take the normal movement rate at the airport during the months that are before the summer season and it is estimated at about 200 or 250 thousand, they come through the airport with reference to that during the season In the summer, this number will rise to 400,000 or 450,000, and then the increase must be calculated in this way.
Shams El-Din said in an interview with the “Lebanese Debate”: “In my opinion, those who come to Lebanon are 600 or 700 thousand people in the best cases, and 70% of them are Lebanese, and therefore even the number 600 thousand is a large number and exaggerations, but because Lebanon is a small country and when it witnesses crowds in The number of those coming to it is estimated incorrectly.”
He points out, “International estimates of what a tourist spends range between $1,200 and $1,500, but he distinguishes between a tourist and an expatriate because the latter is not a tourist, as he comes and stays with his family during his stay, stressing that the tourist season is an important resource, but there is an exaggeration in the numbers,” pointing out He pointed out that “the tourism movement that we are currently witnessing contributes to moving the economy temporarily, and its size is estimated at one billion dollars, which is a very important number, especially during this period.”
On the issue of immigration? He explains that “immigration has always existed, because the Lebanese who come for tourism themselves went abroad and found job opportunities for them and then returned to spend their vacations in their country only, and it must be noted here the difference between a traveler and an immigrant, meaning the one who goes to America can become an immigrant.” But whoever goes to the Gulf countries and Africa after 20 or 30 years will return to his country, so he is considered a traveler.”
Shams El-Din confirms that “the number of travelers and immigrants in Lebanon is rising with the persistence of unemployment and declining incomes, so today the concept of immigration is different from the past, because it has become members of families who migrate, whether the husband or the son and daughter, to find a job opportunity through which they can transfer money to their family in Lebanon.” And these transfers are an essential source of the economy because there are 250,000 families benefiting from them, and without them, these families who have the ability to spend family would be poor families.
2023-07-03 12:00:37
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