All the news about Israeli tourism

Data released by the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) shows that during the Passover holiday, passenger traffic fell by 13 percent compared to last year.  This exceeded the 10 percent fall that was predicted.  During the holiday period a total of 446,000 passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport, of that number 429,000 were on international flights.

Between the 6th and 19th April there were a total of 2,856 international flights at Ben Gurion Airport, a reduction of 8 percent on 2008.  The busiest day was on 19th April when 46,130 passengers used the airport on a total of 270 passenger flights.

The most popular destinations for travelers during Passover 2009 were the United States, with a total of 47,760 passengers, down by 6 percent on last year, Great Britain with 36,838 travelers, a reduction of 4 percent on last Passover, Turkey with a total of 35,338 passengers, down by a massive 54 percent on last year. Germany on the other hand, with 35,142 passengers actually recorded an increase of 10 percent in passenger traffic compared to 2008.  The number of travelers to France totaled 34,558, down by 19 percent on 2008 and Italy 33,323 travelers, down by 14 percent on the same period last year.

Kobi Mor, Director General of the Israel Airports Authority said that they had been fully prepared to handle the significantly larger number of passengers at all of the IAA locations.  Despite security warnings, about 25,000 travelers passed through the Taba Border Crossing into Egypt; while 10,400 travelers passed through the Arava Border Crossing into Jordan.

As usual the city of Eilat recorded a large influx of tourists for the Passover holiday.  The airports in Eilat and Ovda recorded a total of 54,085 passengers during the Passover holiday, an increase of 8.5 percent on last year.  The busiest day was on the 8th April when about 100,000 passengers passed through the two airports on 7,800 flights.