Israel Tourism Statistics

Today we will do something different. Instead of visiting a site, we will dig into data and see what Israel tourism statistics we can find.

Note: the data sources are Tourism and Hotel Services Statistics, published quarterly by the Israeli CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics), and Research and Statistics by the Ministry of Tourism.

How big is the tourism sector?

What is the contribution of travel and tourism to GDP as a share of GDP (%)? According to the January 2020 report by the Ministry of Tourism, the tourism industry is estimated at 6.2% of GDP.

Is 6.2% a big or a small number? In the following map by Knoema, you can hover over countries and the contribution of travel and tourism to GDP as a share of GDP (%). And Israel is behind the USA and most of Europe.

How many tourists visited Israel in 2019?

According to CBS, 4.55 million tourists visited Israel in 2019.

Who visits Israel?

And now, let’s see a division by country of citizenship. Here are the top 15 countries.

Country of citizenship	Tourists (January-December 2019) in absolute numbers (thousands)
Couttry	By land	By air	Total
United States	98.4	871.0	969.4
France	16.2	351.3	367.5
Russian Federation	10.0	308.1	318.1
Germany	10.0	267.4	289.0
United Kingdom	12.0	223.4	235.4
Italy	20.9	169.8	190.7
Poland	14.8	142.1	156.9
China	46.2	110.0	156.1
Ukraine	9.4	126.0	135.4
Romania	14.2	106.9	121.1
Spain	16.7	87.9	104.7
Canada	14.6	81.2	95.8
Netherlands	6.9	84.0	91.0
Brazil	17.3	64.8	82.1
India	37.6	27.5	65.1
Grand total	583.4	3,968.2	4,551.6

Most tourists that visit Israel come from the United States and Europe.

How long is the average visit to Israel?

The average length of stay for all tourists was 10.0 nights, and for
tourists staying in Israel up to 30 days – 8.2 nights.

The duration of the visit depends on the purpose of the visit. And as you can see from the following quote, there are different categories of travelers.

24.3% of the tourists arrived for religious purposes (pilgrimage),
21.3% came for touring and sightseeing, 30.0% for visiting friends and
relatives, 10.3% for leisure and pleasure, 8.9% for business and
missions, and 5.2% specified “other” as the main purpose of their visit.

Tourist expenditure

As you can see from the table above, the accommodation has the most significant influence on the budget. And this leads us to the next section.

Accommodation

Type

Most tourists stay in hotels or holiday resorts. Here is a pie chart that represents the data.

Level of accommodation

11.4% of the tourists stayed in high-end accommodation, 86.4%
reported a medium accommodation level, 1.0% reported a low
accommodation level and 1.2% reported “other” when asked about the
level of accommodation used on their visit.

Cost of Rooms

Both tourists and Israeli complain about the high prices of accommodations in Israel. So let’s look at table 19 (ROOMS, BEDS, PERSON-NIGHTS, BED OCCUPANCY, REVENUE, AND JOBS IN HOTEL SERVICES(1)), and see what we can deduct from it.

	Revenue(3)				Person-nights
Jobs (4)	From Israelis	From Tourists	Total	Bed occupancy	Israelis (3)	Tourists (3)	Total	Month	Year
Thousands	NIS million			%	Thousands
37.0	5,462.5	4,037.2	9,499.7	48.7	15,915.6	11,291.6	27,207.0		2010
38.3	5,693.0	4,052.8	9,745.9	48.1	15,852.6	11,388.3	27,240.7		2011
38.3	6,052.2	4,331.7	10,383.9	48.5	16,253.8	11,247.2	27,500.9		2012
39.0	6,255.1	4,336.9	10,592.0	48.9	16,451.7	11,485.4	27,937.1		2013
40.1	6,381.1	4,194.5	10,575.7	47.3	16,452.8	10,966.9	27,419.4		2014
41.4	6,935.8	4,185.6	11,121.2	46.7	17,065.8	9,972.4	27,038.2		2015
41.5	7,130.4	4,240.0	11,370.3	47.2	17,315.4	10,411.9	27,727.4		2016
45.2	7,380.1	5,004.2	12,384.2	49.8	17,263.7	12,939.5	30,201.7		2017
45.0	7,662.8	5,625.7	13,288.5	49.5	17,105.3	13,862.1	30,967.3		2018
46.5	8,001.2	5,976.9	13,978.0	50.3	17,340.5	14,420.1	31,759.6		2019
41.2	451.2	354.2	805.5	37.6	1,025.4	953.1	1,978.5	I	2019
41.6	437.4	364.4	801.8	42.9	1,018.0	1,028.4	2,046.4	II
44.0	510.0	554.1	1,064.1	48.8	1,143.7	1,435.4	2,579.1	III
48.1	744.5	583.3	1,327.8	54.0	1,552.8	1,246.6	2,799.4	IV
47.6	613.5	618.0	1,231.5	52.0	1,359.7	1,439.5	2,799.3	V
48.2	732.3	561.7	1,293.9	53.2	1,573.7	1,206.7	2,780.4	VI
49.1	881.7	443.6	1,325.3	58.6	2,030.4	1,130.5	3,161.0	VII
49.7	1,039.3	404.2	1,443.4	62.1	2,334.3	1,016.4	3,349.7	VIII
48.7	701.2	481.7	1,182.9	50.7	1,481.5	1,157.8	2,639.2	IX
47.8	735.0	584.1	1,319.1	50.1	1,419.7	1,299.7	2,719.4	X
46.7	553.5	619.1	1,172.5	50.6	1,139.2	1,490.8	2,629.9	XI
45.5	601.7	408.4	1,010.1	42.5	1,262.1	1,015.1	2,277.3	XII

Notes:

• (3) Incl. estimates of components of Hotel Services for which data were not collected.
• (4) Incl. jobs of Man-Power companies.

The first thing that we can see from the table above is bed occupancy. Looking at the 2019 division by month, we see that winter month has the lowest occupancy rates. And the summer vacation month has the highest rates.

And if we take this data and calculate the revenue divided by person nights, we will get the following table.

Year	Month	Revenue from Israelis/Israelis Person nights	Revenue from Tourists/Tourists Person nights	Total Revenue/Total Person nights
2010		343.2	357.5	349.2
2011		359.1	355.9	357.8
2012		372.4	385.1	377.6
2013		380.2	377.6	379.1
2014		387.8	382.5	385.7
2015		406.4	419.7	411.3
2016		411.8	407.2	410.1
2017		427.5	386.7	410.0
2018		448.0	405.8	429.1
2019		461.4	414.5	440.1
2019	I	440.0	371.6	407.1
	II	429.7	354.3	391.8
	III	445.9	386.0	412.6
	IV	479.5	467.9	474.3
	V	451.2	429.3	439.9
	VI	465.3	465.5	465.4
	VII	434.2	392.4	419.3
	VIII	445.2	397.7	430.9
	IX	473.3	416.0	448.2
	X	517.7	449.4	485.1
	XI	485.9	415.3	445.8
	XII	476.7	402.3	443.6

The first thing we can see is that Israeli and tourists pay approximately the same prices. And if we look at the 2019 month division, we can see that February was the cheapest month. April and October were the most expensive months. Probably because these are holiday months (April – Passover, October – Sukkot).

And now let’s look at the prices. Total revenue divided by Total Person nights for 2019 was 440.1. If we assume that the income of hotels is only from renting rooms, then the last column represents the average price per person per night. Meaning the average double room will cost about 880 NIS per night. That is quite expensive compared to most European countries and the USA.

Attractions

When I wrote Israel Trip Planner, I also compiled a list of top attractions. That list was based on various websites, which include user feedback. And now, let’s see the most popular sites according to the Ministry of Tourism and CBS.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the most visited regions in 2018 were Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and Dead Sea Area.

On the CBS site, I also found table 64 – visits in Israel nature and parks authority sites, by type of site and district. Let’s start with the raw data, and then I will present several derivatives.

Note: the numbers in the table are in thousands.

			Israelis			Tourists			Total
			2019	2018	2017	2019	2018	2017	2019	2018	2017
		Grand total	9,110.1	8,686.2	8,499.6	3,769.8	3,379.7	2,758.7	12,880.0	12,065.8	11,258.2
1.		Recriation sites – total	6,505.2	6,126.4	6,003.9	1,034.7	960.1	807.9	7,539.9	7,086.5	6,811.8
	1.1	Jerusalem District(1) – total	633.8	576.0	557.6	13.3	12.7	11.4	647.1	588.6	569.0
		Me’arat Avshalom (stalactives cave)	220.2	204.7	209.0	6.3	5.5	3.5	226.5	210.3	212.5
		En Hemed	119.2	112.7	85.2	0.6	1.3	1.2	119.8	114.0	86.4
		Eynot Zukim (En Feshcha)	149.4	139.6	147.3	3.4	3.4	3.7	152.7	143.0	150.9
		En Prat	145.0	118.9	116.0	2.9	2.5	3.2	147.9	121.3	119.2
	1.2	Northern District – total	2,413.9	2,006.2	2,107.5	633.7	611.0	528.1	3,047.6	2,617.2	2,635.5
		Gamla	70.1	59.1	58.2	19.9	20.1	17.9	90.0	79.2	76.1
		Tel Dan	222.4	167.1	185.1	152.5	137.2	114.7	374.9	304.2	299.8
		Ha Tanur (Nahal Ayun)	180.7	105.6	105.4	0.6	0.8	0.9	181.4	106.4	106.4
		Ha Hula	88.8	82.9	91.4	7.5	7.3	7.2	96.3	90.2	98.6
		Ma’ayanot HaBanyas (Springs)	371.4	276.6	287.8	326.1	324.1	282.3	697.5	600.7	570.0
		En Afeq	144.6	136.9	130.2	0.1	0.0	0.1	144.7	137.0	130.3
		Yehudiyya	86.6	78.5	89.0	3.1	4.0	7.9	89.8	82.5	96.9
		Brichat HaMeshushim	34.7	28.8	48.1	1.7	1.8	2.3	36.4	30.6	50.4
		Hurshat Tal(2)	166.3	136.0	152.5	0.3	0.3	0.4	166.6	136.3	152.8
		Akhziv	114.9	110.8	93.6	0.3	0.2	0.2	115.1	110.9	93.8
		Gan HaShlosha (Sakhne)	345.4	299.2	357.3	21.8	21.7	16.2	367.2	320.9	373.5
		Ma’yan Harod	148.2	122.1	112.7	33.5	31.9	23.2	181.8	154.0	135.9
		Nahal Amud	104.0	90.5	90.9	0.7	0.4	1.0	104.6	90.9	91.8
		Nahal Shnir (Hazbany)	247.3	220.9	209.2	3.2	1.8	3.9	250.6	222.7	213.1
		Arbel	88.6	91.2	96.1	62.3	59.3	50.1	150.9	150.6	146.1
	1.3	Haifa District – total	318.1	352.5	320.9	1.9	1.5	1.1	320.0	354.0	321.9
		Dor HaBonim Beach	180.9	192.6	171.1	0.1	0.1	0.0	181.1	192.7	171.1
		Nahal HaMe’arot and Hay-Bar
		Karmel (Wildlife Center) – total	120.9	117.6	117.0	1.8	1.4	1.0	122.6	119.0	118.0
		Karmel	16.3	42.3	32.8	..	..	0.0	16.3	42.3	32.8
	1.4	Central District – total	1,877.4	1,946.5	1,706.0	1.3	0.9	0.7	1,878.6	1,947.4	1,706.7
		Bet Yannay Beach	2.2	25.2	74.0	..	..	..	2.2	25.2	74.0
		Yarqon Origins(3)	372.2	365.5	333.3	1.0	0.8	0.5	373.3	366.3	333.9
		Nahal Taninim	67.5	51.6	53.6	0.3	0.2	0.1	67.8	51.7	53.8
		Palmahim	1,435.4	1,504.1	1,245.0	..	..	..	1,435.4	1,504.1	1,245.0
	1.5	Southern District – total	1,262.0	1,245.3	1,312.0	384.5	334.1	266.7	1,646.6	1,579.4	1,578.7
		Eshkol (Park)	119.7	103.3	134.5	0.1	0.1	0.3	119.8	103.5	134.8
		National Park Ashkelon	433.7	495.5	483.8	4.7	4.6	4.5	438.4	500.1	488.3
		En Gedi(4)	388.4	357.3	403.9	316.7	261.1	203.3	705.1	618.4	607.2
		Arad Visitors Center	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
		Mizpe Ramon Visitors Center	109.2	105.0	103.1	17.9	19.8	18.0	127.1	124.8	121.1
		Hay-Ramon (Wildlife Center)	19.9	16.5	19.4	1.2	1.8	1.8	21.2	18.3	21.2
		Be’erot Campground	35.9	33.0	32.9	..	..	..	35.9	33.0	32.9
		Almuggim	117.7	104.5	103.7	40.6	43.8	36.2	158.3	148.3	139.9
		Beasts of Prey Center Yotvata	37.5	30.1	30.7	3.3	2.8	2.6	40.8	33.0	33.3
2.		Historical sites – total	2,604.9	2,559.9	2,495.6	2,735.1	2,419.5	1,950.8	5,340.0	4,979.3	4,446.4
	2.1	Jerusalem District(1) – total	512.2	596.1	423.5	530.2	498.8	383.2	1,042.5	1,094.9	806.7
		Mount Gerizim	12.4	11.4	8.0	15.1	11.0	7.5	27.5	22.4	15.6
		Qastel	66.9	78.4	64.7	1.7	1.3	1.2	68.6	79.7	65.9
		Old City Walls	366.6	438.7	275.4	6.7	7.6	6.6	373.3	446.3	282.0
		Herodion	38.5	40.1	44.0	59.5	59.0	44.1	97.9	99.1	88.1
		Qumeran	27.9	27.5	31.4	447.3	419.9	323.7	475.2	447.4	355.1
	2.2	Northern District – total	718.8	652.2	692.4	589.2	543.9	461.7	1,308.0	1,196.1	1,154.1
		Bet Alfa	12.5	13.1	13.6	19.3	20.9	20.1	31.8	34.0	33.7
		Bet She’an	70.7	69.1	76.0	172.3	153.3	126.8	243.0	222.4	202.8
		Bet She’arim	58.0	51.4	59.8	8.7	7.3	6.3	66.8	58.7	66.1
		Bar’am	16.0	16.6	16.7	2.9	1.6	0.9	18.9	18.2	17.7
		Mishmar HaKarmel Ranch	25.0	27.6	24.2	..	..	..	25.0	27.6	24.2
		Hamat Teverya	24.3	13.4	9.6	5.6	4.2	3.7	29.9	17.6	13.3
		Hazor	14.5	11.6	6.7	21.0	17.7	17.1	35.5	29.3	23.7
		Yehi’am	44.0	41.8	39.7	1.0	1.4	0.8	45.0	43.2	40.5
		Kokhav HaYarden	48.3	40.3	31.0	7.5	9.7	11.9	55.8	50.0	42.9
		Korazim	16.9	13.0	11.4	47.2	42.1	37.1	64.1	55.1	48.5
		Kursi	10.7	8.5	8.9	35.2	35.7	33.3	45.9	44.2	42.2
		Nimrod Fortress	56.6	47.8	52.3	15.8	14.9	13.7	72.4	62.7	66.0
		Megiddo	27.2	27.2	29.7	186.7	172.5	134.3	213.9	199.7	164.1
		Majrasa-Batiha	207.0	184.8	237.8	11.3	13.8	14.4	218.3	198.6	252.2
		Zippori	87.0	85.9	75.1	54.7	48.8	41.4	141.7	134.7	116.5
	2.3	Haifa District – total	466.6	466.1	450.7	571.8	498.3	409.1	1,038.4	964.4	859.8
		Qesariyya	466.6	466.1	450.7	571.8	498.2	409.1	1,038.4	964.4	859.8
	2.4	Central District – total	94.4	83.6	68.2	2.7	2.6	2.0	97.1	86.2	70.2
		Apollonia	94.4	83.6	68.2	2.7	2.6	2.0	97.1	86.2	70.2
	2.5	Southern District – total	812.9	761.8	860.9	1,041.2	876.0	694.7	1,854.1	1,637.7	1,555.7
		Bet Guvrin	221.2	187.7	196.2	36.4	37.1	35.7	257.6	224.8	231.8
		Mamshit	55.2	52.5	58.5	3.4	4.2	4.4	58.6	56.7	62.9
		The Good Samaritan	18.7	18.0	16.6	11.5	11.1	8.1	30.2	29.1	24.7
		Massadah(5)	301.1	295.7	362.3	864.1	697.8	529.6	1,165.2	993.5	891.9
		Ovdat	23.0	22.4	23.9	25.5	23.5	19.9	48.4	46.0	43.8
		En Ovdat(6)	136.3	129.8	143.4	52.4	53.5	47.8	188.6	183.3	191.2
		Tel Be’er Sheva	26.5	27.4	28.3	34.4	36.9	36.8	60.9	64.3	65.1
		Tel Arad	31.1	28.3	31.7	13.5	11.7	12.5	44.5	40.0	44.2

What are the most popular Israel nature and parks authority sites? From the table above, we can get a list of the most popular places for tourists and Israelis.

Note: check out National Parks And Nature Reserves in Israel, where I cover all of them and discuss subscriptions and combo tickets.

Here are the top 20 National Parks that Israeli love:

Site Name	Israelis – 2019
Palmahim	1,435.4
Qesariyya	466.6
National Park Ashkelon	433.7
En Gedi(4)	388.4
Yarqon Origins(3)	372.2
Ma’ayanot HaBanyas (Springs)	371.4
Old City Walls	366.6
Gan HaShlosha (Sakhne)	345.4
Massadah(5)	301.1
Nahal Shnir (Hazbany)	247.3
Tel Dan	222.4
Bet Guvrin	221.2
Me’arat Avshalom (stalactites cave)	220.2
Majrasa-Batiha	207.0
Dor HaBonim Beach	180.9
Ha Tanur (Nahal Ayun)	180.7
Hurshat Tal(2)	166.3
Eynot Zukim (En Feshcha)	149.4
Ma’yan Harod	148.2
En Prat	145.0

And here are the top 20 National Parks that tourists love:

Site Name	Tourists – 2019
Massadah(5)	864.1
Qesariyya	571.8
Qumeran	447.3
Ma’ayanot HaBanyas (Springs)	326.1
En Gedi(4)	316.7
Megiddo	186.7
Bet She’an	172.3
Tel Dan	152.5
Arbel	62.3
Herodion	59.5
Zippori	54.7
En Ovdat(6)	52.4
Korazim	47.2
Coral beach	40.6
Bet Guvrin	36.4
Kursi	35.2
Tel Beer Sheva	34.4
Ma’yan Harod	33.5
Ovdat	25.5
Gan HaShlosha (Sakhne)	21.8

Notes:

• (2) Including The Tal Campground.
• (3) Including Afeq Park.
• (4) Including Nahal David, Nahal Arugot, and En Gedi Archeological Site.
• (5) Including Massadah and Massadah National Park Western Approach.
• (6) Including Zinnim Cliff.

As I saw in other statistical data (that is not presented in this post), Israeli prefer mostly recreational sites. Many of them are beaches, and most of them are suitable for hot weather (either water or caves). And tourists prefer historical sites.

Satisfaction with the visit to Israel

I want to end this post on a positive note by answering whether you should visit Israel.

Tourists were asked to rate their satisfaction with three aspects of their visit to Israel, on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 indicating a low level of satisfaction and 5 indicating a high level of comfort).
93.3% of the tourists rated their visit as generally “very good” or “excellent.”
The average level of tourist satisfaction was 4.3.

And the best sign for satisfied tourists is returning tourists.

54.2% of the tourists visited Israel for the first time, while 45.8% had already visited Israel. Among the latter category (N=8,268), approximately 77.4% had either made their previous visit to Israel up to two years before the current visit.

Others would say that returning tourists is a sign that 8.2 nights is not enough to get familiar with Israel. And I agree.

What was the most interesting Israel tourism statistic? What did you already know, and what surprised you? Tell us in the comments below.

That’s all for today, and I’ll see you in future travels!

Stay Tuned!

Additional Resources

Here are several resources that I created to help travelers:

• Trip Planner with Attractions and Itineraries is the page that will help you create your perfect travel route.
• What is the Best Time to visit Israel? To answer this question, we will consider the weather, prices, holidays, festivals, and more.
• Information and Tips for Tourists to Israel will answer the most common questions tourists have about Israel (including safety, passports, weather, currency, tipping, electricity, and much more).
• Israel National Parks and Nature Reserves include a complete list, top ten, map, tickets (Israel Pass, Matmon, combo), and campsites.
• If you are looking for things to do, here are the pages for Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Sea Of Galilee, Akko (Acre), Eilat, Nazareth, Safed (Tzfat), and Makhtesh Ramon.