20% decline in Israel’s tourism industry: Data

Official statistics have revealed a big decline in the number of the tourists visiting the Israeli-occupied territories in the first half of this year.

Statistics from the Tel Aviv regime’s Ministry of Tourism have shown that there has been a 20 percent decrease in the number of the tourists in the first half of 2015, compared to the same period last year.

Israeli website Walla has reported that senior officials from the ministry had held an emergency meeting last week headed by Tourism Minister Yariv Levin to discuss ways to woo in tourists.

Levin said Israel’s insecurity had undoubtedly played an important role in keeping tourists away, urging all-out efforts aimed at making all, including non-Israeli Jews and Anglican Christians, feel safe to visit Israel

Israeli paper Ha’aretz also reported in June that arrivals were down 17 percent in the first five months of 2015, compared with the same time span in 2014

The crisis in Israel’s tourism industry comes in the aftermath of Tel Aviv’s bloody war against the Gaza Strip last summer.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians lost their lives and some 11,000 were injured in the July-August 2014 assaults. Gaza Health officials have said the victims included 578 children and nearly 260 women with more than 3,100 children injured in the offensive.

Palestinian resistance fighters responded firmly to Tel Aviv’s bloody offensive by firing thousands of rockets into the occupied territories.

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