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The Central Bureau of Statistics reported that in the period between January and September 2009, a fall of 5 percent was recorded in the number of Israelis travelling overseas compared to the same period last year.  There were a total of 99,000 departures by sea, an increase of 21 percent on the previous year.

According to the data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics, there were a total of 3.1 million overseas departures in the first nine months of the year, this compared with 3.3 million departures in the same period last year.  Close to 85 percent of the departures by Israelis were by air, totaling 2.7 million and a reduction of 5 percent on 2008.  A total of 372,000 departures were overland, down by 11 percent on the previous year and 99,000 departed by sea.

The Central Bureau of Statistics explained that a fall of 20 percent in departures was registered during January and February compared to 2008, caused in all likelihood by the military operation in Gaza, which took place at the end of December and the beginning of January.

For the period from March to June this year compared to the corresponding period in 2008 there was a more modest decline, down by only 9 percent, this probably as a result of the global financial crisis, while during the last three months there was a 2 percent increase in the number of Israelis travelling abroad.

During September alone, a total of 432,000 Israelis travelled overseas, of that number 370,000 left by air, 50,000 overland and 12,000 by sea.