The increasing tourist traffic improved the occupancy figures in Herzliya, Tiberias, Jerusalem, Nazareth and Tel Aviv, which were even higher than the holiday tourism areas (Eilat and the Dead Sea).

Exactly one year ago, in March 2022, for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, all tourists (vaccinated and unvaccinated) were allowed to enter Israel on the condition of performing a PCR test before boarding the plane and after entering Israel.

In March 2023, the highest monthly number of tourists overnight stays since the beginning of the COVID-19 virus was recorded (approximately 977 thousand) but compared to March 2019 – this is still a 21% decrease.

Tourist overnight stays: In March, tourist overnight stays amounted to approximately 977 thousand – a 21% decrease compared to March 2019. The numbers, as mentioned, are still far from those of 2019.

Higher than average decreases were recorded in Eilat, a 67% decrease compared to 2019, the Dead Sea with a 41% decrease, Netanya with a 31% decrease, Haifa with a 26% decrease, Nazareth with a 24% decrease, Jerusalem with a 23% decrease. In Herzliya there was a 16% decrease and in Tel Aviv an 8% decrease.

Israeli overnight stays: In March, Israeli overnight stays totaled approximately 984,000, a 17% decrease compared to March 2022, a 16% increase compared to March 2019.

Total overnight stays: amounted to about 2 million – a 6% decrease compared to March 2019.

The national room occupancy amounted to about 65% compared to about 55% in March 2022 and 72% in March 2019.

Occupancies higher than the national average were recorded in Herzliya with approximately 75%, Tiberias with approximately 71%, Jerusalem with approximately 70%, Nazareth with approximately 68% and Tel Aviv with approximately 67%. In Eilat and the Dead Sea there was an occupancy of about 62% each, in Netanya there was an occupancy of about 59% and in Haifa about 50% occupancy.

The Israel hotel association stated: “Incoming tourism has not yet returned to its expected level in the first quarter of the year, relative to 2019, before the corona epidemic. We hope that the political and security uncertainty prevailing today will not harm the predictions of the rate of recovery of inbound tourism”.