Once again Israel has broken its record of tourist entries with 4,551,600 in 2019 from across the globe. This record is a 10 percent increase over 2018, which saw 4,120,800 tourist arrivals.
The top six source countries to Israel for incoming tourism are the United States (889,700), France (367,500), Russia (318,100), Germany (289,000), the UK (235,400) and Italy (190,700).
The number of tourist hotel nights reached 12.1 million in 2019, compared with 11.6 million in 2018, which is an increase of 4.4 percent. The number of tourist stays in 2019 increased in Jerusalem by 8 percent, 9 percent in Tel Aviv and 18 percent in Tiberias.
To keep up with the increasing numbers of travelers to the country, hotel brands are working to open new properties across the country. Notable openings in 2020 include the renovated Mitzpe Hayamim in the Galilee, Six Senses in the Negev, and the pod hotel, WOM Allenby, in Tel Aviv.
In addition, significant transportation updates are being made to allow entries to the country to be smoother. In 2019, Israel opened Ramon Airport in Eilat, announced a 3 billion NIS (approximately $871 million) expansion plan of Ben-Gurion Airport and launched new direct flight routes from Las Vegas, San Francisco, Orlando, Dallas and Washington DC. In March 2020, the first direct flight route out of the Midwest United States will launch from Chicago with El Al Airlines.
“We are within reach of achieving 5 million tourists and hope that our efforts will push us over the edge in the years to come,” said said Amir Halevi, Tourism Ministry Director-General, in a written statement.
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