Israel recorded a surge in tourism that saw its arrival figures hit a seven-year high, the local press has reported.
The number of foreign visitors to Israel soared by over 80 per cent this August compared to the same period a year earlier, with total arrivals at their highest number since 2000.
Around 223,000 tourists came into the country during August, for a total of 1.46 million, the country's Central Bureau of Statistics revealed.
'The August figures prove that the tourism sector has recovered from the crisis that it had following the Lebanon War,' the Jerusalem Post quoted tourism minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch as saying.
Although tourism is still a relatively small part of the country's economy at two per cent, this figure doubles when tourism-related spending is accounted for.
Tourism can bring in as much as £1.25 billion in one year to Israel's economy.
And the Israeli government has set itself a goal of reaching five million tourist arrivals in 2012, more than doubling the figure estimated to be the total for this year.
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