Tourism to Israel still below pre-Covid levels

Israeli tourism was 4%-7% below pre-Covid levels in 2019 in August 2023, according to the latest figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics. 311,200 foreign visitors entered Israel in August including 284,200 tourists who stayed at least one night. This compares with 247,100 foreign visitors in August 2022 and 324,200 in August 2019, and 234,400 tourists in August 2022, who stayed at least one night and 304,600 in August 2019.

2.7 million foreign visitors entered Israel in the first eight months of 2023, compared with 1.6 million visitors in the first eight months of 2022, when Covid restrictions were still in force in the first part of the year, and the record 3.1 million visitors in 2019, before the pandemic.

Israel recorded 2.9 million entries into the country in 2022, of which 2.7 million were tourists who stayed at least one night, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics. Restrictions on the entry of foreign tourists into Israel were only fully removed in May 2022 and as a result tourist numbers still have a long way to go to surpass the record 4.9 million entries into Israel in 2019 before the pandemic, including a record 4.5 million tourists who stayed at least one night.

At the same time the number of Israelis traveling abroad exceeds pre-pandemic levels. In the first eight months of 2023, Israelis made 7.1 million trips abroad, reports the Central Bureau of Statistics, 20% more than in 2019. In August 2023, Israelis made 1.34 million trips abroad.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on September 6, 2023.

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