Tourism in Israel breaks record, increases by 40% in April
349,000 tourists visited Israel last month, which is the highest figure for any month since 1948
The Israeli Ministry of Tourism announced Tuesday that 349,000 tourists visited Israel in the month of April, which is the highest figure for any month since the inception of the state in 1948.
The figure also marks a 40 percent increase from 2015. Since January 2017, the state has earned a record NIS 6 billion in revenue from tourism (some $1,700,000,000.00)
The Israeli Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin praised the achievement and said that the progress was due to the ministry's shift in policy and a calculated effort to bring more tourism to Israel.
“When there is clear policy, we see results. Every month, we are witnessing exceptional statistics that illustrate the progress we are spearheading in the tourism industry and its tremendous contribution to the Israeli economy and workforce. This important and exciting milestone is part of a positive trend that has been taking place over the last half year or more. I hope and believe that, with hard work, we will continue to reap the benefits of this investment,” Levin said.
The ministry also announced that "40,000 tourist entries were recorded via the land crossings, of which 34,000 came through Jordan and about 6,000 through Egypt."
These figures represent an increase of 56 percent on April 2016 and 22 percent on April 2015. There were approximately 24,000 day visitors in April 2017 – an increase of 27 percent on April 2016 and 13 percent on April 2015.
From January to April of 2017, "1.09 million tourist entries were recorded, an increase of 26 percent on the same period in 2016 (850,000) and 22 percent more than in 2015", the ministry announced in a press release.