So if you were thinking that perhaps tourism to Israel might be taking a hit, what with the recent worldwide economic problems, you might be surprised to know that October was a record breaking month: some 330,000 tourists entered Israel during October, the highest ever monthly total!
According to official figures released, those 330,000 visitors mean that some 2.3 million tourists have enjoyed what the Holy Land has to offer since the start of the year. Not too bad at all, though possibly not on course to break last year’s record total. Though with a traditionally strong Christmas season to come, who knows…
The October numbers also show a 9% increase on the same month last year. And bear in mind that the total of 2.3 million tourists up to the end of October was the total for the whole of 2007. So yes, a definite move in the right direction!
One of the hot movers in the stats listed was the number of tourists who came to Israel on day trips – up some 20% from last year. Another big player in the record breaking numbers was the stopovers by cruise passengers, up to 23,500, which was double that of October 2008.
The record breaking month is seen by Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov as payoff to changes in the marketing of Israel:
These numbers are as a result of focused marketing, analysis of the target market and investment in proper infrastructure for continuous global marketing, based on the positioning of Israel as the holy land, and Jerusalem as its capital.
Looks like Israel is being marketed with Jerusalem and the holy sites in Israel heavily at the forefront of any campaign; Tel Aviv as a happening joint, less so. Minister Misezhnikov is convinced a better future lies ahead for tourism in Israel, though has been critical of the service offered in many tourism sectors. His efforts to reform the tourism industry are, in his words, to bring an additional million tourists to the Holy Land over the next three years. That’s if you’re still in the job come election time, mate…