Global Blue, one of the world’s leaders in tax refund services, published its quarterly “Globe Shopper Spending Insights in Lebanon” report, conveying a 73% annual drop in the value of tax-free spending in Lebanon in the first nine months of 2020 on the back of the corona virus outbreak which caused some travel restrictions and preventive safety measures by some of the major and busiest international airports to prevent the spread of the virus. In detail, tax-free spending by tourists from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, and Syria fell by 81%, 60%, 88%, 66%, 90%, and 73% on a yearly basis respectively up to the month of September 2020. From another standpoint, the number of tax-free transactions by tourists from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, and Syria saw a sharp annual drop of 87%, 76%, 92%, 81%, 89%, and 80% respectively. Overall, the number of transactions came in 81% lower y-o-y up to September 2020.

The lion’s share of tax-free spending goes to Emirati (15%) tourists, followed by Saudi (10%), Syrian (8%), Egyptian (7%), Kuwaiti (4%), and Qatari (3%) tourists, as sketched in the chart below:

Category-wise, “Fashion & Clothing” articles accounted for 54% of total tourist spending by September 2020, trailed, and by far, by “Watches & Jewelry” items (30%), “Department Stores” (4%), “Home & Garden” appliances (4%), and “Sports Equipment & Clothing” (3%). As far as the geographical distribution of spending is concerned, Beirut, which hosts most pertinent shopping malls and brands, amassed 75% of total tax-free spending, followed by the Metn (17%), Baabda (3%) and Kesserwan (3%) regions.