Lebanon's ministry of tourism has said that some 1.9 million tourists came to Lebanon in 2009, the highest number of visitors in the country's history, the Associated Press has reported. The 2009 number is the highest ever and broke the 1974 record of 1.4 million tourists, the ministry said. Fadi Abboud, the country's tourism minister estimated the country's annual income from tourism at up to $7bn, or about 20% of gross domestic product.