Tourists arrive in Israel. Breaking record (archives)
Photo courtesy of Tourism Ministry
280,000 tourists visit Israel in August
All-time record marked last month, with 7% increase in number of visitors to Holy Land compared to August of 2009. Some 2.2 million tourists arrive in Israel since beginning of 2010
Some 280,000 tourists visited Israel
in August 2010, marking an all-time high for the month, a 7% increase compared to August 2009 and a 6% rise compared to August 2008, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported Tuesday.
About 2.2 million visitors have arrived in Israel since the beginning of the year – up 30% compared to the same period last year and 10% compared to the same period in 2008. Some 1.8 million of these visitors spent at least one night in the country – a 23% rise compared to 2009 and a 6% increase compared to 2008.
Coming and Going
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"The Tourism Ministry and the Israel Land Administration will work in the coming months to market compounds for hotels in order to reduce the shortage of hotel rooms which is threatening the economic and employment growth in the different tourism industries," said Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov.
"The significant, ongoing growth in incoming tourism in the past year, alongside expressions of interest from investors and entrepreneurs, both local and foreign, requires making the marketing of lands for tourism a top priority on the national agenda in order to prevent the creation of bottlenecks, which may badly damage the tourism industry's development," the minister added.
"The competition with the region's countries is increasing and will continue in the coming years, and requires thorough and focused preparations by the tourism industry in general and hotels in particulars. In order to withstand this competition, the Tourism Industry will invest a major part of its budget in helping entrepreneurs in the coming years."
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