According to the Ministry of Tourism, Israel's tourism industry has not fully recovered to pre-covid pandemic levels. In the first half of 2023, the country welcomed 1.97 million visitors who spent 11.7 billion shekels (about 2.9 billion euros).
In the first half of 2020, the number of tourists in the country decreased compared to the same period in 2019, a record year for tourism in Israel. The decline was due to travel restrictions in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the first six months of 2019, 2.26 million tourists visited Israel, and by the end of the year, the total number of visitors had increased to 4.9 million.
The ministry explained that tourism from Russia and Ukraine has significantly decreased because of the ongoing war between the two countries. Before the conflict, Russia was the second most important source market for Israel, right after the United States.
Based on current data, the ministry predicts that this year the country will welcome 3.9 million visitors. Israel pledged to remove barriers to entry, accelerate infrastructure development and increase accommodation capacity by adding hotel rooms to fully realize the country's tourism potential.