305,000 tourists came to Israel in August, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports, up 9% from August 2018. Between January and August 2019, 2.9 million tourists came to Israel, up 10% from 2018. The country has had 3.1 million visitors including those who did not stay overnight and Israel looks set to break last year's record when 4.1 million tourists visited Israel.
Overseas tourists spent an estimated NIS 1.5 billion in Israel last month and have spent NIS 15 billion since the start of the year.
August is traditionally a strong month for tourism, for vacationers rather than business tourists. 22% of tourists visiting Israel come from the US, with large numbers of tourists from France, Russia, Germany and the UK.
Despite the large number of visitors, the number of Israelis traveling abroad is far larger. Israelis have made 6.2 million trips abroad since the start of the year, up 6% from last year. In August alone, Israelis made 1.2 million trips abroad.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 3, 2019
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