The Israel Finance Committee has approved a request by the Israel Ministry of Finance to transfer the 2016 surplus of ILS 164 million (around $46 million) to the Israel Ministry of Tourism’s budget, which stands at around ILS 1.1 billion (approximately $293 million), of which almost 50 percent was set aside for marketing purposes during 2016 and 2017. A segment of the sum has been allocated across the following marketing initiatives:

• ILS 152 million (about $43 million) for increased marketing efforts abroad
• ILS 4.5 million (about $1.26 million) for hosting international journalists and opinion leaders
• ILS 200,000 (around $56,000) to meet the needs of Chinese tourists