Tourism to the Jewish State has spiked again despite the various struggles taking place within the current government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing numerous challenges to his leadership and his coalition government is being destabilized by the refusal of the hareidi-religious parties to compromise on a military draft bill. None of these issues, however, seem to have affected the desire of international tourists to come to the Jewish State.
There was a 28 percent increase in tourism to Israel last month over 2017, with 299,400 entries recorded by the Central Bureau of Statistics. Revenue from tourism in February reached some $440 million.
Since January 1, about 556,000 tourist entries were recorded, which is a 25 percent increase over last year, injecting a total of $817 million into the economy.
“Month after month, we are witnessing new achievements and record levels of incoming tourists and I am pleased that impressive increases were recorded in February as well,” said Tourism Minister Yariv Levin.
“The marketing activities and the innovative steps we are taking, together with the incentives for airlines and investment in infrastructure, all this is proving itself month after month, as the tourism industry continues to contribute significantly to the Israeli economy and the labor market.”
According to the Tourism Ministry, the largest increases were registered in those countries in which the ministry is investing its marketing efforts – a 26 percent increase in the United States; a 170 percent increase in Poland; 87 percent in Sweden; and about 50 percent growth in Germany and Italy.