The Ministry of Tourism has published the latest tourism numbers and they are looking good. According to the report, over 308,000 tourists entered Israel in January – an increase of 8% compared to January last year and an increase of 20% compared to January 2018.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said, “The record highs in tourist arrivals to Israel continue to be broken… The numbers speak for themselves; the marketing policy revolution we led in the Ministry of Tourism gives is showing signs of success and we hope that we can maintain the positive momentum in 2020, despite the expected budget cuts.”

Director General of the Ministry of Tourism, Amir Halevi, said, “We are pleased that the number of tourists arriving in Israel has also increased in 2020, thanks in part to the scope and professionalism of the ministry’s marketing activities. The ministry continues to operate under the existing budget limit and the additional challenges that have come to our door, and will market Israel as a tourism destination in a variety of tourism brands to different target audiences, with the aim of preserving the amazing achievements of recent years. ”

By air, there were 268,900 tourist arrivals in January 2020, up 7.6% on January 2019 and up 17.8% on January 2018. By land, 39.6 thousand tourists entered Israel in January 2020, up 13.8% compared to January 2019 and up 39.4% in January 2018. Only 24,500 day visitors entered Israel in January 2020 compared with 35,400 that entered in January 2019, and 16.1 thousand entered in January 2018.

Estimated revenue from incoming tourism in January is $437 million.