Louvre, Paris (file)
Louvre, Paris (file)Thinkstock

The preferred travel destination in 2017 for Israelis who defined themselves as “children,” “adults,” “secular,” or “religious” is New York, according to a new poll.

Thailand and London came in second and third, respectively.

The poll, conducted by the Smith Institute, comes as the annual International Tourism Exhibition kicks off next week in Tel Aviv.

On the other hand, 52% of respondents said that they were apprehensive of traveling to a city like Paris, Berlin, or Istanbul which saw a terror attack in the past year. 65% percent of women were apprehensive of traveling to such a locale, while 38% of men said they were.

Eyal Shmueli, publisher of Israel Travel News and among the founders of the Tourism Exhibition, commented on the findings.

“There’s no doubt that international tourism has taken a blow as a result of terror in central capitals around the world, but one can see that, with time, things are going back to normal and tourists are returning to routine, especially with respect to central destinations like Paris or Berlin.

“Nevertheless, the poll shows that half of Israelis are apprehensive about travelling to these cities, something which surprised us due to the fact that Israelis are pretty used to emergency situations. I believe that the lack of desire to travel to these places stems from the Israeli tourist’s need to take a rest from the difficult daily life in Israel. When on vacation, we want to stop worrying about being in a place that could be a terror target,” he concluded.