Global Blue, one of the world’s leaders in tax refund services, published its quarterly “Globe Shopper Spending Insights in Lebanon” report, conveying a 1.75% annual drop in the value of tax-free spending in Lebanon in the year 2019. In detail, tax-free spending by tourists from Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia rose by 19.2%, 6.4%, 27.0% and 21.2% on a yearly basis respectively by end of 2019. Nevertheless tax-free spending by French, Syrian and Jordanian tourists fell by 15.7%, 14.3% and 23.7% respectively. From another standpoint, tourists from Saudi Arabia and Qatar also recorded the largest increase in the number of refund transactions which stood at 14.5% and 5.7% respectively. Conversely, the number of refund transactions fell for tourists coming from France (-25.0%), Jordan (-25.2%), and the United States of America (-12.4%) only to name a few. Overall, the number of refund transactions came in 5.83% lower in 2019.

The lion’s share of tax-free spending goes to Saudi (14%) tourists, followed by Emirati (11%), Kuwaiti (8%), Syrian (8%), and Qatari (7%) tourists, as sketched in the chart below:

Category-wise, “Fashion & Clothing” articles accounted for 64% of total tourist spending in 2019, trailed, and by far, by “Watches & Jewelry” items (21%), “Home & Garden” appliances (4%), and “Department Stores” (4%). As far as the geographical distribution of spending is concerned, Beirut, which hosts most pertinent shopping malls and brands, amassed 82% of total tax-free spending, followed by the Metn (12%) and Baabda (3%) and Kesserwan (2%) regions.