Lebanon will join the Vatian's official list of official Christian pilgrimage sites in 2019

Lebanon will join the Vatian's official list of Christian pilgrimage sites in 2019, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported over the weekend, quoting the Lebanese Charge d’Affaires in Vatican City Khalil Karam.The list of official Roman Catholic Church pilgrimage destinations is issued annually by the Pope with Lebanon last on the list in 2007.The move is expected to attract thousands of Christian pilgrims to Lebanon, one of the earliest regions in the world to adopt Christianity and a country mentioned in the Old Testament.Lebanon, home to the Catholic Church affiliated Maronite Church, is also the birthplace of a number of saints and home to several Christian significant sites, millenia-old monasteries.Some even believe Jesus Christ may have visited towns in what is modern-day South Lebanon.The news will give a boost to the economy of Lebanon , whose tourism industry has suffered as a result of the conflict in neighbouring Syria and chronic political instability.

Tourism is one of the key pillars of Lebanon's economy, accounting for 19 percent of the country's GDP, according to the UK-based World Travel and Tourism Council.

But Gulf nationals - who once accounted for the biggest spending during the summer holiday season - have steered clear of the small Mediterranean nation after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain issued warnings against travel to Beirut.



Lebanon has since sought to diversify its tourism industry away from traditional entertainment and retail, working to develop its eco-tourism and religious tourism sectors to lure tourists from other parts of the world.