Around 440,000 tourist entries were recorded in Israel in May 2019, or 11.1 percent more than in May of last year, and 26.8 percent more than that period two years ago, according to the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
From January to May this year, almost 1.9 million tourists visited the Jewish state, as compared to 1.75 million in the same period last year—a jump of 8.3 percent.
Sight-seers from China have increased substantially.
Hainan Airlines, which just launched a new route from Shenzhen, China, to Tel Aviv, also has direct flights to Tel Aviv from Shanghai and Beijing. China Eastern also plans to launch its own direct flight to Tel Aviv, making it the third Chinese airline, including Sichuan Airlines, to offer direct flights to Israel.
This introduction of more flight routes from China to Israel has had a market impact on tourism to Israel and will continue to do so if the trend continues. Israel’s Ministry of Tourism reported a general 14 percent increase in incoming tourism over 2017 and a whopping 42 percent increase over 2016.
