‘After two years that had seen the number of Israelis going overseas plummet precipitously, 2022 represents a major recovery’
After the pandemic kept many Israelis from going abroad for over two years, recent months show an upward trend in international travel, according to a new report published Sunday by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
“After two years that had seen the number of Israelis going overseas plummet precipitously, 2022 represents a major recovery,” with upward of 8.4 million departures on record, the report read.
The report, however, points that while the numbers for 2022 are significantly better than in the two previous years, they still fall short by some 8.1 percent compared to the last pre-pandemic year, 2019.
About 7.4 million of all departures abroad in 2022 were by plane, mostly from Ben Gurion Airport, and about 818,000 by land. The most popular destinations for Israelis were Turkey, Greece, the United States, Italy, and England. Some 565,000 Israelis crossed to Egypt through the Taba Crossing, and another 252,000 crossed to Jordan. Some 144,000 departures were made by sea.
Last week the Bureau released a report showing that a recovery of tourism to Israel is lagging behind the global average, which already exceeded 60 percent of pre-pandemic figures in July.
