(TAN): Israel hosted a record number of tourists in 2019, with around 4.55 million people visiting the Jewish country as compared to 4.1 million visitors in 2018, reports said.
The 10.6% year-on-year rise in tourism helped Israel to generate revenues worth ILS 22 billion (USD 6.3 billion approximately), as per reports.
“We have received more than ILS 22 billion from tourism, and created more than 13,000 new jobs, resulting in a total of more than 150,000 jobs created due to the influx of tourists. I think the [tourism] industry is catching on as a central element of the Israeli economy,” Minister of Tourism, and Minister of Aliyah and Integration, Yariv Levin was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying.
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The growth came amid geopolitical disturbances in the region, with 1,300 rockets being fired into Israel in 2019, reports said.
According to reports, 3.6 million holidaymakers visited Israel in 2017, and 2.89 million in 2016.
“It took us 30 years, from 1948, to reach the millionth tourist; another 16 years in 1994 to reach the second millionth tourist. At the beginning of the current term, we reached the third millionth tourist. In 2017, we reached 4 million tourists within a single year. and this year we have already crossed the line of 4.5 million tourists,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Levin.
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However, tourism growth is reportedly expected to be slower this year on account of spending cuts on advertising and promotions of the country as a travel destination. As per reports, the cut could be the result of the country’s budget deficit surpassing 3.5% of gross domestic product, beyond a target of 2.9%, in 2019.
“We are within reach of achieving 5 million tourists, but we are concerned that the momentum we have achieved in focused marketing that has proven itself will not continue with the same intensity because of significant budget cuts,” Tourism Ministry Director-General Amir Halevi was quoted by Reuters as saying.
He reportedly emphasised on the development of more tourism products, particularly for the Negev and Arava where “the biggest potential for increasing the number of tourists and for economic growth in the entire region” can be seen.
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“These excellent statistics are the result of a professional and marketing revolution that we have led in recent years. The ‘Two Sunny Cities. One Break’ campaign has been very successful in promoting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as city destinations and now we are turning our attention to developing additional tourism products, mainly the Negev and Arava,” Halevi was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying.
As per reports, the United States sent the maximum number of tourists in 2019, with nearly 890,000 visitors, followed by France, Russia, Germany and Britain. Tourist entries from China reportedly went up 49% to 156,000 in 2019.
