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|  | 3 million tourists in 2008? Photo: Shalom Bar Tal
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2008 set to be record year for incoming tourism
Some 2.3 million tourists arrive in Israel between January and September; Tourism Ministry official believe target of 2.8 million tourists will be reached by end of year
Ynet
The Tourism Ministry is optimistic: Some 2.3 million tourists arrived in Israel
between the beginning of January and the end of September – a 38% rise compared to the same period last year.
Ministry officials believe that its target of 2.8 million tourists will be reached by the end of the year, compared to 2.292 million tourists in 2007.
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Their optimism is based on the fact that October, which was filled with Jewish holidays this year, has not ended yet and was therefore not included in the statistics.
If the number of tourists does reach its target, it would mark a new record since the year 2000, when 2.672 tourist entries were recorded in Israel.
The Israel Hotel Association (IHA) also presented encouraging figures on Monday. The IHA's economic department stated that some 763,000 tourist stays were recorded in Israel's hotels in September – a rise of 49% compared to the same month last year.
Tourist stays between January and September amounted to 7.6 million – a rise of 25% compared to the same period in 2007.
IHA Director-General Shmuel Zurel said in light of the data, "It's important to remember that in September 2008 the world was already in the midst of the financial crisis, which fortunately did not express itself in the demands for Israel.
"There is no doubt that the tourism industry's contribution to the rise in the Israeli economy's growth in such a problematic year like 2008 will be extremely significant.
"I believe that through appropriate national handling and by allocating the right marketing resources, tourism can continue to contribute to Israel's economic growth also in 2009, which is expected to be a challenging economic year," he noted.
The Tourism Ministry also proudly presented encouraging on the tourism to Eilat in the upcoming winter season. As much as 18 direct flights to the Israeli resort town will be operated every week from eastern and western European countries, including Germany, France, England, Russia, Poland and Finland.
Last winter, only five direct flights arrived in Eilat on a weekly basis. The increase in the number of charter flights to the southern town constitutes an addition of some 2,100 seats every week, and these flights are expected to bring some 80,000 tourists to Israel during the winter months.
Tourism Minister Ruhama Avraham-Balila stated that "Eilat is dealing with difficult tourism challenges, which are mirrored by the huge investments on the other side of the bay. Eilat is high on the ministry's list of priorities."
The ministry has provided a safety net and marketing agreements to any company operating direct charter flights to Eilat.
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