November 9, 2026
In a remarkable precedent, Lebanon was absent from the “Travel and Tourism Development Index for 2026” issued by the World Economic Forum, which included 110 economies around the world, despite its tourism status and the sector’s contribution of about 18.6% of the gross domestic product in 2025.
This absence comes after Lebanon’s presence in the previous version of the index for the year 2024, where it ranked 79th globally and eighth in the Arab world, recording 3.66 points out of 7, before it was completely excluded from the 2026 classification without clarifying the official reasons for the exclusion, even though the report adopts precise standards related to the availability of statistical data and surveys and the extent to which countries are affected by conflicts.
On the Arab level, the UAE topped the ranking with a score of 4.56 points, followed by Saudi Arabia with 4.45 points, then Qatar with 4.23 points, while Kuwait ranked tenth in the Arab world, achieving 3.53 points.
The “Travel and Tourism Development Index” is not limited to measuring the number of tourists or direct revenues, but rather assesses the ability of countries to build a sustainable tourism sector based on 102 sub-indicators distributed over 17 basic pillars, including security and stability, infrastructure and airports, tourism services, investment environment, natural and cultural resources, and sustainability standards.
This exclusion raises serious questions about Lebanon’s position on the map of global tourism development, especially since it received more than 1.6 million tourists during the year 2025, at a time when the travel and tourism sector continues to form a basic and vital pillar of the Lebanese economy.
