by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:05 PM ET, Tue January 2, 2018
Tourism officials revealed Tuesday that the number of people who visited Israel grew by 25 percent in 2017.
According to Reuters.com, the Israeli Tourism Ministry said a record 3.6 million visitors came to the country last year, earning the nation $5.8 billion worth of revenue. The new record was an increase of 700,000 tourists over 2016.
The United States, Russia, France, Germany and Great Britain rounded out the top five in terms of the most prevalent sources of incoming tourists in 2017. The most visited destinations were Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
One of the main reasons behind the record-breaking numbers were the initiatives developed by Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and his team to entice airlines, online travel agents and other industry insiders to focus Israel. Several airlines also added routes flying into Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport, including Hainan Airlines, Ryanair, Lot, WizzAir and WOW.
"If we continue in this way, we will see very satisfactory results in the next year," Levin said in a statement.
While the tourism industry is booming in Israel right now, the success is coming at a cost to tour operators, who are scrambling to find enough rooms for their group business.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
