Tuesday, July 11, 2017

So Much for Being Isolated!!

As well as losing the military battles, our enemies seem to have lost their war to isolate Israel.

Not only are more countries leaders visiting than ever before (with the associated traffic problems in Jerusalem) but more and more tourists are coming making it a bumper year,

-    1.74 million tourist entries in Jan-June 2017, 26% more than same period last year increasing revenue from tourism to  NIS 9.4 billion in Jan-June 2017.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin stated : “The June tourism statistics bring us to record levels for incoming tourism in the first six months of the year.   The significant increase in incoming tourism numbers makes an exceptional contribution to the Israeli economy and workforce. I am convinced that, with the correct activities, we will see continue to see good results in the coming months.”

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the following increases were recorded in the first half of 2017 as compared to the same six months in 2016:

-    76% increase in tourism from China
--   30% increase in tourism from Russia
-    20% increase in tourism from USA (the largest source country for incoming tourism)