Tourism during November increased 23.6% when compared to November 2016, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported.
According to CBS, 355,900 tourist entries were recorded in November 2017, representing a nearly 24% rise from November 2016 and a 70% increase when compared to November 2015.
305,300 tourist entries were by air, an increase of 20.3% when compared November 2016 and 65.7% when compared to November 2015. 50,700 tourists arrived via the land crossings, 39,700 of whom arrived viia Jordan and approximately 11,000 of whom arrived via Egypt. 28,800 arrived as day visitors in November, 47.7% than during November 2016 and 14.3% more than in 2015.
In the period January-November 2017, about 3.3 million tourist entries were recorded, 25.3% increase on the same period last year, and a 28% increase from 2015. Revenue from tourism in November reached about $487 million. Since the beginning of the year, tourism has injected $4.5 billion into the Israeli economy.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) said, "We continue to break records in incoming tourism and this month we mark more than one year of an upward trend in incoming tourism. These are unprecedented statistics, that are a direct result of the intense and strenuous work we are doing at the Tourism Ministry."
"The numbers speak for themselves and reflect our success – all this is because of the changes in marketing strategy, the increase in flights and new airlines and the improvements in tourism infrastructure. Incoming tourism continues to serve as an economic growth engine and contributes millions of shekels every month to the Israeli economy."
In August, 2.5 million travelers passing through Ben Gurion Airport surpassed the Israel Airports Authority's (IAA) expectations, setting a new record after July saw 2.3 million.
In October, the number of travelers increased 60%, from 290,000 in October 2016 to nearly nearly 464,000 during the same period this year.