Romanians, on 5th place in rankings of Europeans visiting Israel

Romania was the main country in the region and the fifth in Europe as a tourist source in Israel in October, according to the latest statistics published by the Ministry of Tourism, quoted in a release issued on Monday to AGERPRES. 

Over 15,000 Romanians arrived in Israel in October, and the trend continues to rise for the rest of the autumn. It has been estimated that over 50,000 Romanian tourists will travel to Israel this autumn, both for pilgrimages to the holy places and for city breaks in already famous cities such as Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or to enjoy the friendly temperatures and beaches from Eilat. 

The Romanians' holidays in Israel last on average five days, and the focus is gradually shifting towards discovering the cities, the demand for city breaks being increasingly higher, according to the communiqué issued by Travel Communications. 

In October this year, Romania surpassed Poland in terms of the number of people who preferred Israel as a travel destination, thus becoming the main source of tourists in the region - 15,000 Romanians visited Israel in the tenth month of the current year, an increase by 22pct compared to the previous month. Thus, Romania ranks sixth in the world, being surpassed only by the big players in global tourism, such as the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Russia or France. 

From January to the end of October this year, over 100,000 Romanians visited Israel, 12pct more than in the same period of 2018. Compared to 2017, the growth was 35pct, Romania being thus one of the countries with the highest leap in the rankings of the number of tourists arriving annually in the Holy Land. 

Almost 100 weekly flights now connect Tel Aviv and Eilat to the main airports in Romania - Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj, Iasi and Sibiu. The year 2018 registered an increase by 152pct of Romanian tourists compared to 2016, and the outlook remains extremely positive for 2019.