It’s about time you got yourselves over here and joined the party (if you haven’t already) – 2019 was a record-breaking year for tourism, with some 4.56 million tourists visiting Israel!
Up from 3.6 million in 2017 and 4.1 million in 2018, tourism to Israel is on the up and up!
Earlier in the year, the record looked on course to be smashed to smithereens, and it certainly has! With a relatively quiet home front, Israel looked even more enticing than usual. I mean, what’s not to like…all that hummus, gorgeous beaches, amazing attractions, and yes, oodles of sunshine!
And all those tourists mean a big boost for Israel’s economy, with the Ministry of Tourism stating that incoming tourism in 2019 added more than 20 billion shekels to the state coffers (to be officially confirmed).
Just why do tourists come to Israel…?
Well, despite the obvious delights of Israeli food and attractions, more than half of the tourists who visited Israel this year were actually here for the first time. Around 25% described the purpose of their visit as religious, meaning a pilgrimage, with others stating that touring and hiking, and entertainment and enjoyment, their main reasons for visiting Israel.
Where do all those tourists stay?
According to numbers from the Israel Hotel Association, 63% of tourists to Israel stayed in hotels overnight, 21% of tourists stayed with relatives and friends, while 5% stayed in hostels, and 7% in rented apartments (these numbers are still to be officially confirmed).
There are some truly great options out there for the independent traveler; we’ve listed the top 10 hostels in Israel here, while take your pick from some excellent accommodation options for all budgets and requirements right here.
Where do they visit?
We have a feeling that most people manage to check off most of the options on our Top 10 list, but statistically (and these numbers have still to be officially finalized), 78% of incoming tourists visited Jerusalem, followed by Tel Aviv-Jaffa (67%), the Dead Sea (49%), and Tiberias and the Galilee region (35%).
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All in all, a very good year for tourism! We’ve seen it on iGoogledIsrael too, with a steady rise in traffic (we had 1.3 million visitors to the site in 2019!), and huge interest in many of our excellent and highly recommended tours.
With predictions of 5 million visitors to Israel in 2020, things are very much happening here – and yes, if you haven’t already booked your ticket, do it now before the stampede kicks in!