Last year, 2.67 million tourists visited Israel – an increase of approximately 574 million tourists from 2021 and a decrease of approximately 41 million tourists from 2019. New records for domestic tourism were also set as 20 million overnight stays by Israeli residents were recorded.
Israel officially opened to inbound tourism in March 2022 and without restrictions in May, following a record year in 2019 and then a pandemic. In 2022, 2.675 million tourists traveled to Israel, compared to 397,000 in 2021 (a 574 million increase), 831,000 in 2020 (a 222 million increase), and 4.552 million in 2019 (a 41 million decrease). Revenue from inbound tourism in 2022 was approximately NIS 13.5 billion (excluding airfare), compared to approximately NIS 23 billion in 2019. Despite the 41 million fewer tourists traveling to Israel in 2022 compared to 2019, renewed tourism growth is evident. A comparison of December 2019 (358,300 arrivals) and December 2022 (266,200 arrivals) shows that the decrease in incoming tourists was instead around 25 %, and between January 2019 and January 2023 it was only 9.6% (from 284,800 to 258,000).
Domestic tourism set new records in 2022, with over 20 million overnight stays by Israeli residents in various types of accommodations in Israel – compared to 18.4 million in 2019, before the pandemic. The large increase in Israeli overnight stays has also significantly increased domestic tourism revenues – in 2022 they were NIS 17 billion, compared to NIS 12.7 billion in 2019.
– 2022 was a year of recovery from the corona crisis. The trend is positive and beating the 2019 record for inbound tourism is a realistic goal on the horizon. Domestic tourism has proven to be an economic force, just as important as inbound tourism. Our goal is to reduce barriers, launch projects that increase the number of beds and develop infrastructure, in order to fully realize the tourism potential of the country, says Haim Katz, Israel's Minister of Tourism.
Nordic development
Denmark: 13,400 incoming tourists in 2022, compared to 23,000 in 2019.
Norway: 8,700 incoming tourists in 2022, compared to 16,500 in 2019.
Finland: 7,300 incoming tourists in 2022, compared to 18,300 in 2019.
Sweden: 15,300 incoming tourists in 2022, compared to 33,100 in 2019.
Incoming tourists in thousands:
Click here for updated figures on incoming tourists, country by country.
