December 2012
2012 – A Record Year
for Incoming Tourism
(Communicated by the
Ministry of Tourism)
3.5 million visitors
to Israel will have arrived by the end of 2012, 4% more than in 2011. Tourists
(not including day visitors) account for 2.9 million entries, 2% more than in
2011. Despite the downturn that occurred in the last month and a half as a
result of Operation Pillar of Defense, this year sets a new record for incoming
tourism to Israel.
As in previous years,
the US remains the largest single source country for incoming tourism with
about 610,000 visitors, representing 18% of all tourism to the country and a
drop of 4% on last year. In second place and with a very small margin is
tourism from Russia with 590,000 visitors, 20% more than 2011.
Out of 3.5 million
visitors, 2.5 million arrived by air (70%), an increase of 1% compared to 2011.
About 406,000 came through the land borders (12%), an increase of 6% compared
to 2011. 625,000 entries (18%) were one-day visitors, an increase of 15%: of
these 235,000 came on cruise ships, a similar number to 2011.
About 16.5 million
domestic overnight stays were registered in 2012 in all the various types of
accommodation, 3% more than last year. There was an increase of 4% in
hotel stays, 2% in youth hostels and ½% in rural tourism.
Revenue from incoming
tourism in 2012 (including the income of the Israeli aviation companies from
inbound tourism) totals about $4.6 billion or 17.8 billion NIS (an increase of
8% - largely due to the increase in the dollar rate). Revenue from domestic
tourism in 2012 totals about 10.3 billion NIS (3% more than in 2011), and
another 8 billion NIS in revenue from outbound tourism – similar to 2011. Total
revenue from tourism in 2012 is estimated at about 36 billion NIS, 4% more than
in 2011.
Tourism Minister Stas
Misezhnikov: “These achievements are a reflection of the intensive and
professional work of the past three years, when tourism has become a main
engine for growth in the economy with a rise in revenues and the creation of
new jobs. Making tourism a preferred national industry will strengthen Israel
in economic, image and advocacy terms”
Further details,
including country specific information, can be found in the attached document.