According the Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of visitors to Israel this past year came to 4.9 million; representing a 12% increase. 4.6 million were regular tourists (a rise of 10.5%) and 353,000 were day visitors (passing through on ships, or arriving from Jordan). CBS records show that on average over the decade there were 3.2 million tourists per year, with this year’s number reflecting a 41% increase over the average. The largest number of visitors continue to come from the USA, where the number rose from a little over 600,000 at the beginning of the decade, to over 1 million this year. Russia is second, followed by France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Ukraine.
During the past year, Israelis left the country 9.2 million times, an increase of 8% over the year before. Of that number, 2% represents Israelis who live abroad and were visiting. A total of 4.3 million Israelis left the country at least once last year. 2.2 million travelled once, while 2.1 million exited the country multiple times. In contrast, ten years ago there were only a total of 4.2 million departures by Israelis.
