The number of tourists visiting Israel continues to soar with some 254,000 tourists arriving in the country in August – a 20 percent increase from last year.
Tourist arrivals for the year so far stand at 2.3 million, up 24 percent from the same period last year, and on course to beat the 12-month record of 2.95 million set in 2013.
The statistics do not include day trips into Israel, but only tourists who have spent one night or more in the country.
The increase is partially due to an aggressive advertising campaign put out by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism. For the first time, the ministry chose to change the dates of the usual campaigns and urge European tourists to visit Israel during the summer – a season which is usually prone to low numbers of visitors from Europe.
Furthermore, the ministry also ran its first campaign in Poland, a move that lead to a 60 percent spike in visitors from the Central European country.
“The innovative marketing policy that I led continues to prove itself and bring us to new records for incoming tourism to Israel,” said Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin.
“The tourism revolution makes a great contribution to the Israeli economy and to the jobs market. We are determined to continue in this path and lead tourism to new record heights.”
Since January, tourism in Israel has brought in nearly $3.5 billion.