Jerusalem (Source: Claudette Covey)
US visitors are still traveling to Israel, albeit in much smaller numbers. First quarter 2024 US arrivals were at 30 percent of the same period in 2023, tourism officials said. Suffice to say that those lower numbers have not stanched the growth of the country’s tourism infrastructure. In all, four hotels debuted during the past six months, along with a new national park.
“Now more than ever, on the occasion of Israel’s Independence Day not only do we celebrate Israel at this deeply challenging time, [but] we also celebrate the partnership and support of the US travel industry,” said Eyal Carlin, the Israel Ministry of Tourism’s commissioner of tourism to North America.
“From reaching record-breaking numbers month over month in 2023 to a near stop after October 7, we take comfort in seeing signs of healthy growth these past few months with a 30 percent return from the U.S. market this quarter.”
New hotels in Tel Aviv include The George on Rothschild Boulevard, a lifestyle property with 170 guest rooms and 1,000 pieces of curated art; and the Albi Florentin, a boutique hotel in the Florentin neighborhood with a digital concierge and check-in service.
The Almond Hotel, which is situated halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, boasts 60 guest rooms, some of which feature private swim-up pools, vibrant Israeli art and a rooftop pool with views of the Jerusalem mountains.
David’s Harp Galilee Resort Hotel in Emek Hayarden, was designed in the shape of a harp, reflecting ‘the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee where it rests,” tourism officials said.
Meanwhile, the ‘Ubeidiya National Park, which is located just south of the Sea of Galilee in the Jordan Valley, joined the roster of 81 Israeli national parks. “The park is based around the ‘Ubeidiya prehistoric site, a 1.6 million-year-old repository of early human stone tools and bones of the largely now-extinct animals they hunted,” tourism officials said.
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