The French are coming!
צילום: דלית שחם
Tourists are back
Exactly 214,300 tourists arrived in Israel in July 2007, a 43 percent increase compared to last year. On the other hand, we are still in a deficit: 531,000 Israelis traveled abroad this month
A year has passed since the Second Lebanon War and the tourists are back in Israel. Exactly 214,300 tourists arrived in Israel in July 2007, a 43% increase compared to July 2006 and a 7% increase compared to July 2005.
Thirteen months ago, on July 12 2006, two IDF soldiers were kidnapped and eight others were killed in a Hizbullah attack on the Lebanese border. Israel went to war and tourists canceled their trips to the country. July 2006 marked a negative record in incoming tourism to Israel with a total of 148,600 tourists.
A year later, signs of recovery are evident. Out of the 214,300 incoming tourists, 177,200 entered the country through Ben Gurion International airport. A record number of 16,700 tourists entered Israel from Egypt, mostly from Poland and Russia.
According to data gathered by the Tourism Ministry, in the past few years, there has been a steady increase in the number of tourists. Over 1 million tourists visited Israel between January and July 2007 – a 15 percent increase compared to the same period in 2005.
Ilana Meir, a French Jew, cancelled her annual trip to Israel last summer. "I come here once a year during the summer and I was planning to do the same last year. Yet when Nasrallah threatened his missiles will reach Tel Aviv, we cancelled our trip. Now I am glad I came. It's very peaceful and we're enjoying ourselves even though the Israelis are not always nice," she said.
Yet, when incoming tourism is compared to the outgoing, there is still a deficit with over 500,000 Israelis who traveled abroad during July.
