2007 record year for American travel to Israel

The United States is a country that already makes up for about 25% of Israel’s tourist figures, and in 2007, more Americans came to Israel than ever before. Ever.

Israel’s tourism commissioner for North and South America Arie Sommer says that 529,000 Americans flew to Israel last year, with the last record year for American visits being in 1999 when the total number of visitors was 515,000. Of the Americans that make the journey to the Holy Land, the top five states with ambassadors landing in Tel Aviv are California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

These figures at first glance would make one surmise that these must be the states with the most Jews, coming to connect or reconnect with their Jewish roots, but many of the visitors are Christian, or even non-sectarian.

Many visitors do come for the region’s religious history, as evinced by the success of tour groups being shown around biblical sights such as Bethlehem, the Jordan River and the so-called location of the Sermon on the Mount.