The Western Wall in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikicommons.
JNS.org – Some 60,000 tourists are expected to arrive in Israel during the Passover and Easter holidays, injecting nearly $100 million into the economy.
Passover begins Wednesday at sundown and runs seven days in the Jewish state and eight days in the Diaspora.
Easter is marked next Sunday, and the monthlong Muslim festival of Ramadan began on March 22.
Last month, 352,000 tourist entries were recorded and, overall, 916,000 tourists have visited Israel since the beginning of the year.
“The positive trend in incoming tourism, along with the increase in domestic tourism, leads to prosperity for the tourism industry and strengthening the economy,” said Israeli Tourism Minister Haim Katz on Monday.
“We will present a proper budget for the benefit of establishing and upgrading infrastructure and accelerating marketing actions in new channels. I invite the general public to tour our beautiful country. Happy holidays to everyone,” he added.
The Tourism Ministry is currently inviting the public to enjoy free entry to dozens of sites and attractions throughout the country as part of a $7 million program.