According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), since the beginning of 2010, nearly 2.5 million tourists have visited Israel – an increase of 27 percent over the same period in 2009 and nine percent over 2008, Israel’s record tourism year to date.
The Tourism Ministry is continuing its fall-winter, incoming tourism marketing activities around the world, investing about $19 million through to the end of 2010 on a range of events in target countries, including participation in tourism fairs, PR activities, marketing agreements, professional seminars and more.
Emphasis will be placed on recruiting more wholesalers to market Israel and increasing seat capacity and frequency of flights into Israel, as well as adding new routes.
Months-long advertising campaigns will target specific markets in the main source countries for incoming tourism, such as the US, Russia, Germany, France, England and Scandinavia.
Marketing activities will also take place in countries that have recently shown an interest in Israel as a tourism destination, including South Korea, Poland, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov says, “… the Tourism Ministry will work to challenge these new target audiences including, for the first time, Moslem groups, to visit Israel.”