5,000 tourists visited Eilat during holidays
צילום: אלעד הלוי
27 percent increase in tourism to Israel
Record numbers of Israelis, tourists traveling by boat; more than 323,000 Israelis traveled abroad in October
From January through October there were 1,589,700 visitors to Israel, a 27 percent increase over the same period last year. More visitors came by land, sea, and by air, but the 50 percent increase in the numbers of those coming by land, and the 30 percent increase in those arriving on direct flights toEilat was especially notable.
More than 323,000 Israelis traveled abroad in October - the month in which both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur fell - a 2 percent increase over last year’s High Holiday period.
Some 280,000 Israelis departed by air, 21,000 by sea, and about 23,000 by land, of whom 9,000 went to Sinai. Still, the number of Israelis visiting Sinai in September and October this year was 61 percent lower than in the same period last year.
On the other side of the equation, 164,400 people visited Israel for the holidays, 141,500 arrived by air, and 5,000 of whom flew in to Eilat.
Between January and October, 3.3 million Israelis went abroad, similar statistics to the same period of 2004. But a record 146,000 people left Israel by boat this year, a 60 percent increase over last year. During all of 2004, 95,000 Israelis sailed abroad, which at that time was a record.
Tourism Minister Avraham Hirschson noted that “this increase once again shows that there is a momentum in tourism, and it indicates how important tourism is for the growth of the Israeli economy. We have set a goal of 2 million tourists for this year, and 3 million for next year, and we will meet our goal.”
