BEIRUT: The number of passengers arriving to Rafik Hariri International Airport fell by around 50 percent in the first week of August compared to the previous week.

The drop in passenger traffic was attributed to the holy month of Ramdan and the events in neighboring Syria.

Passenger traffic in Beirut fell in the first week of August from a daily average of 15,000 to 7,000, 46.7 percent less than traffic recorded for the same period in the month of July.

The number of passengers departing from Rafik Hariri International Airport was at 10,600 on average per day in July, compared to 7,000 to 8,000 passengers per day in the first week of August, with most travelers having been to and from Arab states.

The decline in the number of passengers to Lebanon, which started in the last week of July, is attributed to the start of Ramadan, during which visiting Arabs prefer to return home for the holy month. Unrest in neighboring Syria is also thought to be a factor in the decline in passenger activity to and from Lebanon.

Local travel agencies and several airline companies, with Middle East Airlines at the forefront, say the number of bookings indicate that a sizeable number of Lebanese want to return to the country at the end of August in order to spend the Eid al-Fitr holiday at home as well as profit from what remains of the summer season in the month of September, prior to the start of schools in the countries where they reside.