Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT), Israel’s national tourism agency responsible for planning and implementing marketing and promotional initiatives, released the destinations tourism number for 2019 yesterday and they are quite astonishing.

For the third year in a row, Israel broke its previous tourism entry numbers, this time with a 10% increase over 2018. In 2019, the Israel Ministry of Tourism reported to have welcomed 4,551,600 into the country with the highest numbers of visitors coming from the United States (889,700), France (367,500), Russia (318,100), Germany (289,000), UK (235,400) and Italy (190,700).

“We couldn’t be more thrilled that 2019 ended with a record high of incoming tourism to Israel that resulted in a NIS 22 billion in revenue,” said Yariv Levin, Israel’s Minister of Tourism. “Thanks to the innovative marketing and promotional campaigns, we are happy to report a 10% increase in tourism compared with last year. We’re excited to continue this momentum in 2020.”

Further, Israel’s hotel night stays also increased by 4.4% in 2019, taking 2018’s number from 11.6 million to 12.1 million in 2019 with the most significant increases being in major cities like Jerusalem (8%), Tel Avive (9%) and Tiberias (18%). New hotels are also popping up across the country as hotel brands try to keep up with the increasing numbers of travellers. Notable hotel openings in 2020 including the renovated Mitzpe Hayamim in the Galilee, Six Senses in the Negev, and the pod hotel, WOM Allenby in Tel Aviv.

New direct flight routes from major US cities including Las Vegas, San Francisco, Orlando, Dallas and Washington DC also became available in 2019 and a new direct flight route from Chicago will soon become available (March 2020) thanks to El Al Airlines.

“In 2019 we have broken the record for incoming tourism with a record 4.55 million visitors,” said Amir Halevi, Tourism Ministry Director-General. “We are within reach of achieving 5 million tourists and hope that our efforts will push us over the edge in the years to come. The Ministry of Tourism will continue to work with our tourism brands to attract both new and returning travellers to experience all our country has to offer, from the Negev in the south to the Galilee in the north."

For more information on traveling to Israel or to plan your trip, visit https://israel.travel/.