Marking the World Tourism Day, which falls on September 27 each year, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, said tourism indicators in Palestine reflected a clear growth in the tourism sector compared to the previous two years.
They said the number of hotel guests during the first half of 2023 doubled twice compared to the same period of the previous year, as the number of hotel guests in the West Bank reached 380,000, who stayed one million nights.
Bethlehem hotels received the largest number of guests with 58% of the total number of hotel guests, followed by hotels in Jerusalem Governorate with 15%, while Ramallah and al-Bireh hotels with 10%.
It is worth noting that 40% of hotel guests are inbound visitors from the European Union, followed by Palestinians residing in Israel with 14%, while domestic guests constituted 10%, and 36% of total guests were from the rest of the world.
More than 1.9 million inbound visits (same-day visitors) to tourism sites in the West Bank during the first half of 2023, of which 1,056,000 were Palestinians residing in Israel and 866,000 were arrivals from abroad.
The number of inbound visits from outside Palestine during the first half of 2023 was distributed by governorate as follows: 34% in Bethlehem Governorate, 18% in Jericho and Jordan Valley Governorate, 10% in Jenin and Tulkarm Governorates consequently, and 28% of visits were distributed to the rest of the West Bank governorates.
As for the number of inbound visits from the Palestinians residing in Israel, they were distributed as follows: 23% of the visits were in Jericho and the Jordan Valley Governorate, 19% in Jenin Governorate, 18% in Tulkarm Governorate, 13% in Nablus Governorate, and 21% of the visits were distributed to the rest of the West Bank governorates.
During the first half of 2023, tourist sites in the West Bank witnessed an improvement in the movement of domestic visitors, resulting in 2,005 million visits to tourist sites, gardens and various parks. Compared to the same period in 2022, the number of domestic visits increased by 15.5%.
Local visits were concentrated in Nablus Governorate with 18%, followed by Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate %15, Jenin and Tulkarm Governorates with 13% each, then Qalqiliya Governorate with 11%, and 10% for Jericho Governorate, 9% for Hebron and Tubas Governorates and 2%for Bethlehem Governorate.
The number of employees working in tourism activities decreased by 8% compared to the same period in 2022, as the number of employees working in the tourism sector reached 503,000 employees during the second quarter of 2023, constituting 4.3% of the total employees in Palestine.
The number of employees working in the tourism sector is distributed according to the status of employment to 388000 wage workers (346,000 males, and 42000 females), and 61000 are self-employed (52000 males and 8000 females).
