Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen: “Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is a city with history, depth, variety, and spectacular beauty, and it is also the favorite destination for tourists from abroad – which provides a livelihood for many thousands of Jerusalemites. I sincerely hope that in the near future we will be able to see tourists roaming the Old City, the Mahane Yehuda market, the pedestrian mall, and the First Station complex. The tourists, who are so lacking in the Jerusalem landscape, not only visit the Holy Land, they also strengthen the entire Israeli economy. In years past, Jerusalem was a magnet for millions of Christians from around the world. I have no doubt that, in the coming years, it will also attract Arab and Muslim tourists from the Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, and other countries.”

Jerusalem, May 9, 2021 – Ahead of Jerusalem Day, which will take place tomorrow, May 10, the Israel Ministry of Tourism publishes data on tourism in the capital of Israel (Source: The 2019 Inbound Tourism Survey, conducted by the ministry every year among tourists).

• • As of 2020, there are 88 hotels in Jerusalem – a figure that crowns Jerusalem as the Israeli city with the highest number of hotels. It is followed by Tel Aviv, with 83 hotels. In total, Jerusalem has 10,992 hotel rooms, in which about 3.6 million tourists stayed in 2019, before the corona pandemic brought incoming tourism to a halt.
  •  Jerusalem is also a tourism powerhouse and source of employment: 21.8% of all those employed in the city work in hotels. Jerusalem just beats Eilat, where 21.7% of all those employed work in hotels in the resort. 
  •  Jerusalem is the most popular destination for incoming tourists. 
  • Jerusalem is the most popular destination for tourists from Brazil – 94% of all visitors from Brazil came to Jerusalem. Other popular countries of origin include  Poland, India, Spain, China, Canada, and the United States.
  • Jerusalem is loved by all, but in a gender segmentation, it appears that 82% of all female tourists choose to visit Jerusalem, compared to 75% of all male tourists. A breakdown by age shows that Jerusalem is especially popular with young people and the elderly. 85% of tourists aged 15-24 choose to visit the city, and 84% of people aged 65+. And which age group least favors Jerusalem? Aged 35-44, with 74% visiting the capital of Israel.

• As part of the survey (January-February, 2020), tourists were asked what was the most positive experience they had encountered during their visit to Israel. The tourists ranked in first place their visit to Jerusalem and the various sites in the city, with 12% of the respondents to the survey choosing Jerusalem.