30% more tourists expected to arrive over Passover

The Ministry of Tourism announced last week that an increase of 36% was recorded in the numbers of incoming tourists visiting Israel in March 2008, with 267,000 tourists. In March 2007, 196,000 tourists arrived.
 
The March figure is a similar number to those arrived in 2000, during Israel's record tourism year.
 
In the first quarter of 2008, over 648,000 tourists visited Israel, an increase of 44% over the same period in 2007.
 
80,000 incoming tourists are expected during the Passover period, an increase of 30% compared to last year with over 80% anticipated hotel occupancy.
 
The pace of growth in tourism is consistent with the Ministry of Tourism's forecast for 2008 of 2.8 million tourists.