Israeli tourism down, but more Russian visitors
THERE were 2.7 million tourists to Israel during 2009, about 11 per cent less than the previous year.
JERUSALEM — There were 2.7 million tourists to Israel during 2009, about 11 per cent less than the previous year.
Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov said that tourism from the United States was the primary source with 550,000 visitors amounting to 21 per cent of all visitors, an 11 per cent decrease from last year.
In second spot was Russia with 400,000 visitors amounting to 15 per cent of all tourists, with a 12 per cent increase compared to 2008.
It should be noted that 31 per cent of those visitors arrived for one-day visits.
French tourists came in third with 260,000 visitors followed by the UK with 170,000 travellers.
Ranked below them were tourists from Germany, Italy, Poland and the Ukraine.
Thirty-nine per cent of tourists were Jewish travellers and 54 per cent were Christian.
In total 61 per cent of the visitors came for vacation purposes. Some 25 per cent of travellers came to visit relatives and friends, while 12 per cent came for business visits.
The tourist’s average stay dropped form 10 nights (for tourists staying up to a month) in the beginning of the decade, to nine nights on average in 2009.
The most popular city was Jerusalem with 74 per cent of tourists stating they visited it, followed by Tel Aviv with 56 per cent of travellers visiting it. Some 45 per cent toured the Dead Sea area.
The most toured sites were Jerusalem’s Western Wall (74%); the Jewish Quarter (66%); Mount of Olives (54%); Church of the Holy Sepulchre (53%) and Via Dolorosa (51%).
The data also indicated that there was a 5 per cent drop in the number of Israelis travelling aboard compared with 2008.
YNETNEWS