2017 has marked the best ever start to the tourism year in Israel: in February, 234,000 tourist entries were recorded, a 22% increase over February 2016. The combined months January-February 2017 recorded 467,000 tourist entries, a 25% increase over the same period last year.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said in a statement: “The statistics show that the ground-breaking marketing activities we have led in the last few months at the Tourism Ministry have generated a significant increase in tourist arrivals. We will continue to consolidate Israel’s position and promote the country around the world as an attractive tourism destination, to ensure the continued prosperity and strengthening of the tourism market in Israel.”
In February 2017, 209,000 tourist entries were by air, an increase of 19% over February 2016 and 24% over February 2015.
24,000 tourist entries were recorded via land crossings, of which 20,000 came through Jordan and about 5,000 through Egypt. There were about 10,000 day visitors in February 2017 – a decrease of 20% over February 2016 and 17% down compared with February 2015.
In January-February 2017, 399,000 tourists arrived by air, 21% more than in the same period in 2016 and 26% more than in 2015.