The Israel Government Tourist Office has announced an all time record in increased visitor numbers for May 2013.
Visitors from the uk rose 21 per cent to 21,277 from 17,566 compared to May 2012 and five per cent when comparing the primary five months of 2013 against 2012 to 90,162 from 85,523.
Naama Oryan-Kaplan, director, UK & Ireland, IGTO said: “It is exciting to look that the IGTO efforts in the UK market has seen a dramatic increase compared with an identical period in 2012 and is determined to continue with the open skies agreement which was signed earlier this year.
“With the various marketing campaigns we now have planned, we’re confident the united kingdom market will continue to recognise that Israel is a destination which offers a global renowned tourism product.”
Overall, Israel has seen a rise of 5 per cent in visitor number around the globe in May 2013 when compared with the identical period in 2012 and nine per cent increase compared to 2011.
Since the start of 2013 the rustic has received 1.4 million visitors, representing another record increase for the January to May period.
Israeli tourism minister Uzi Landau said: “Tourism is a necessary economic growth engine for the economy – it creates jobs in cities and the periphery and generates about NIS 30 billion (approximately £5.28 billion) yearly.”