Russian tourist flow to Israel exceeded 380 thousand people in 2018

Russia continues to be one of the main source markets for Israel. In 2018, in terms of the total number of tourists in Israel, Russia became the second, ahead of France and behind only the United States. Last year, Israel spent about $ 6 million to promote its resorts in Russia. 

As Ksenia Kobyakova, the head of the department of Israeli Ministry of Tourism in the Russian Federation and the CIS, said last year 381,000 Russian tourists visited Israel - this figure includes both cruise travelers and “one-day” visitors, who arrived from neighboring countries (Jordan, Cyprus, Egypt). This is 4% less than the same total figure for 2017, but 34% more against 2016. 

As Ms. Kobyakova noted, 2018 was also a good year for all Israeli tourism: taking into account one-day visitors, 4.4 million foreign tourists visited the country, which is 14% more than in 2017. In the TOP-3, in addition to Russia, which is on the second position, France is on the third line with 346 thousand tourists, and the United States has “gold” with 924 thousand visits. 

Israel's tourism ministry seeks a flexible response to changes on the Russian market. In 2018, in total, Israel spent about 6 million US dollars on marketing of its tourist product in Russia. 

According to the head of Israeli ministry of tourism department in the Russian Federation and the CIS, Israel will maintain an active marketing presence in Russia in 2019. Thus, in the spring time there will be a seasonal campaign devoted to Tel Aviv and Mediterranean holidays. 

“This year we will focus on the regions, which already have air connection with Israel, in particular, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Mineralnye Vody, Sochi and Krasnodar, and on those cities where there are no direct flights. These are Kazan, Novosibirsk and Ufa. The main task of our work in these three cities is to organize flight programs to Israeli resorts. So if tour operators in the regions already have any plans for Israel, we are open for suggestions and cooperation,” concluded Ksenia Kobyakova.