Tourists fly in, Israelis fly out, new data from CBS shows

While evacuees return home, tourists flock back, and locals leave town, Israel’s hospitality industry is facing some changing trends.

While tourists are increasingly flocking to Israel, Israelis continue booking their flights abroad, new data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Monday showed.

According to the data, the first nine months of this year saw 15.8 million hotel overnight stays, down from 17.7 million visiting during the same period last year.

However, while overnight stays by Israelis (including evacuees) dropped by about 15% to 13.8 million, tourist stays rose sharply from 1.5 million in January to September 2024 to 2.1 million this year, an increase of nearly 40%.

The CBS’s report noted that in the past three months there was an average monthly increase of about 5% in tourist overnight stays, compared to 3.9% in previous months. Overall hotel occupancy stood at 53%, although certain areas, such asEilat and the Dead Sea, showed impressive recovery, having occupancy rates of 82% and 55% respectively.

Israelis leave hotels

The main reasons for the decline in hotel stays by Israelis is that tens of thousands of evacuees returned home this year, some after having spent more than a year in hotels, and also a sharp rise in travel abroad.

Since the resumption of international flights in July, there was a large surge of Israelis flying overseas, mostly to European destinations nearby. Many Israelis who spent the past year vacationing in local hotels, often due to necessity, chose to spend their holidays abroad this year.

The report’s overall picture is positive, as it signals that after a two-year war, Israeli tourism is starting to return to normal – with tourists visiting again, Israelis vacationing overseas, and evacuees finally returning home.