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A million and a half tourists visited Jerusalem in 2007 |
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Israel's capital has had record numbers of tourists from all over the world in the past year, compared to previous ones Data published by the Jerusalem Tourist Authority indicates that in 2007, millions of tourists arrived for a tour of the city, out of which a million and a half were tourists from abroad. The rise in the number of visitors stems, among other things, from marketing work done by the Tourism Authority among defined market segments such as people celebrating Bar Mitzvahs, pensioners and others. In addition, the Authority has made marketing campaigns using a website that was launched two years ago and was defined by Earnest and Young as the best tourism website of its kind in Israel. It has also distributed Hebrew and English internet magazines to thousands of readers in Israel and abroad. During 2007, the Jerusalem Tourism Authority held a series of different activities including an international puppet festival, a food festival, a virtuosos festival, a beer festival, the International Arts and Crafts fair and the "Hamshushalaim" celebrations which took place during 3 weekends and attracted nearly half a million visitors. In 2007, dozens of restaurants and cafes opened in Jerusalem, the "Alrov" commercial area was completed with a promenade that connects the new city with the old city, and the building of two new hotels spanning 440 rooms has continued. In the Jerusalem train station area in the neighborhood of Bakaa the leisure area was extended during the past year, with new restaurants, bars and performance halls. In addition, the double-decker bus that passes through 28 tourist sites throughout the city continues to operate, enabling tourists to enjoy a quick tour, lasting several hours only, of prominent sites in Jerusalem. 8000 people took part in the Tourism Authority's weekend tours in 2007, a 10% increase compared to 2006. The sites with the highest number of tourist entrances in 2007 in Jerusalem were the Yad Vashem Museum with over a million visitors, the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens with approximately 693,000 visitors, the Western Wall Tunnel with 614,000 visitors, the Ophel with about 400,000 visitors, the Davidson Excavation and Virtual Reconstruction Center with approximately 240,000 visitors, the Tower of David Museum with 173,000 visitors, the Bloomfield Science Museum with around 186,000 visitors, the Time Elevator with 165,000 visitors, the Ramptops Walk with approximately 120,000 visitors and the Jerusalem International Convention Center with about 510,000 visitors. To watch videos of events and tourist sites in Jerusalem mentioned in this article, including Hamshushalaim, the double-decker tour, the Tower of David Museum, Jerusalem at night and the Science Museum:
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