ISRAEL OUTBOUND TOURISM
MARKET RESEARCH REPORTS
BY DR. ERAN KETTER

Israel is a rapidly growing outbound travel market in the EMEA region, with a significant importance to tourism destinations in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. As of 2024, Israel’s outbound tourism demonstrates high level of resilience and recovers well from the Gaza war, while inbound tourism to Israel still lags behind.

​

Israel tourism statistics for 2024

• Israelis have taken over 5.5 million outbound trips in Q1-Q3 2024, down (only) by 32% compared to January-September 2023.

• In the first half of 2024 Israeli travelers have taken some 3 million trips - reaching a level of 66% compared to the same period in 2023.

• The top 5 first destinations for flights to/ from TLV in 2023 were US, France, Greece, UAE and Germany. This list has changed dramatically in 2024, resulting from changes in outbound travel demand patterns of Israeli tourists, changes in the aviation market, and other key decision making factors.

• In Q1-Q3 2024 the top 5 airlines in TLV were El Al, Israir, Arkia, WizzAir, and Blue Bird Airways. Compared to 2023, and as many international airlines were not resuming their flights to Israel, the share of Israeli carriers in TLV during this period has doubled. In January-September 2024, the market share of El Al in Israel's aviation surged to 46% (vs. 23% in 2023).

• In January-September 2024, international aviation activity in Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) contracted by 43%, compared to Q1-Q3 2023.

• Some 760,000 inbound tourists visited Israel in January-September 2024, down by 73% compared to the same period in 2023. Accordingly, it can be evaluated that the number of inbound tourists’ to Israel in 2024 will be around 1 million visitors, far below the pre-pandemic benchmark of 4.5 million tourists.

• In January-September 2024 the average occupancy rate of hotels in Israel was 63% - same as in 2023. This results from a rise in domestic travel, and is also based on displaced Israelis living in hotels as a result of the war.

 

Israel: A key regional source market

In recent years Israel has been a key outbound travel market for numerous destinations, and Israel is considered as one of the top 3 outside-of-Europe tourism source markets for Europe. In 2023, Israelis have taken 9 million outbound trips (+7% compared to 2022). Resulting from Israel’s geographic location, 92% of these trips were made by air. The top 5 first destinations for flights to/ from Israel in 2023 were Turkey, USA, Greece, Italy and UK. The top 5 airlines serving Israel in 2023 were El Al, Wizzair, Ryanair, Turkish Airlines and Israir.

​​

Israel tourism recovery from the Gaza war

Despite the negative effect of the war in Gaza (Swords of Iron) on outbound travel from Israel, Israel's outbound travel market demonstrates a strong recovery, reaching a level of 68% in January-September 2024. This include an increased desire for emotional wellness and stress relief tourism (soft travel), and surge in interest for short and medium haul destinations that are welcoming for tourists from Israel.

​

Israel Tourism and Israel-Hezbollah Conflict/ War with Lebanon

In September 2024 the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated dramatically, leading to flight cancellations to/ from Israel, a drop in inbound tourism to Israel, a decline in outbound travel from Israel, and a high level of uncertainty. The #1 factor in changes of outbound travel from Israel in this context are flight cancellations, effected by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) official recommendation “not to operate within the air spaces of Lebanon and Israel at all flight levels.” As soon as these airlines will resume their flights from Ben Gurion Airport (TLV), it is expected that outbound travel from Israel will bounce back rapidly.

 

Market research report on Israel outbound tourism

What are the key characteristics of Israel’s outbound travel market? How can a tourism destination (DMO)/ tourism region/ hotel effectively attract tourists from Israel? Which travel segments in Israel are the most open to explore new destinations? What are the key tourism decision making factors for Israeli travelers? And which marketing communication channels are the most effective when targeting travelers from Israel?

​

Our team of experts is offering tourism market research reports on Israel outbound travel market, Israel outbound tourism trends, Israel tourism statistics, Israel tourism demographics and travel segments, consumer behavior of Israel outbound tourists, Israel outbound tourism consumer preferences, tourism demand analysis, and analysis of the travel and tourism industry in Israel and its economic performance. The tourism market research reports can cover Israel outbound travel market as a whole, or focus on a specific market segment, activity or travel passion.

​

Market research methodologies to analyze Israel outbound tourism

Our market research work on outbound tourism from Israel is based on:

• Analysis of market data, tourism statistics and aviation statistics

• Social media sentiment analysis/ social media listening (in Hebrew/ Arabic/ English)

• In-depth interviews with tourism stakeholders

• Focus groups with Israeli travelers

• Survey/ online panel of Israeli travelers

• Our team’s knowledge, experience and in-depth understating of the Israeli culture, tourism demand patterns of Israelis and consumer behavior factors of Israeli travelers.

 

Why conduct a market research on Israel tourism with us?

Eran Ketter (PhD) is an acclaimed tourism advisor and researcher, and a former marketing advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. He is the author of numerous tourism strategy and market research reports, and since 2020 he is the Head of Research in a European Travel Commission market research serious on measuring Europeans’ travel sentiment, conducting surveys for over 100,000 Europeans and providing marketing recommendations and insights for 35 national tourism organizations around Europe (with Mindhaus). Dr. Ketter has a unique in-depth understanding of Israel’s travel and tourism market, based on his rich professional experience working with the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority, Jerusalem Tourism Development Corporation and numerous DMOs, tourism organizations, tourism entrepreneurs and travel-tech startups in Israel.

​