Sinai is back on the vacation map for Israelis. Since the beginning of the year, one million tourists have passed through the Taba border crossing between Eilat and Egypt, 30% more than in 2018.
According to figures from the Israel Airports Authority, which is responsible for all of the border crossings, 150,000 tourists are expected to pass through the border crossings during the period of the upcoming Jewish holidays, including 35,000 just between September 25 and October 1 around the time of the Jewish New Year and 20,000 before and after Yom Kippur.
These figures include traffic in both directions, so the number of Israelis who have vacationed in Sinai since the beginning of the year is at least 400,000 (subtracting tourists passing through Taba from Israel).
The revival of tourism to Sinai comes at the expense of Israeli tourism, but there are those who profit from the traffic through the border crossing. Everyone entering Sinai is required to pay a NIS 102 fee (the fee can be paid in advance on the Airports Authority website or the Milgam website). According to this calculation, these fees have amounted to NIS 50 million since the beginning of the year.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 19, 2019
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