Number Of Russian Tourists – Second Highest In Israel

According to Tuesday’s statement by the Israeli Minister of Tourism, Russia is the second biggest source of inbound tourism after the US. In total, 193,000 Russian tourists visited Israel in 2007 – 163% more than in 2006. The press release tells us that from January to May 2008, the number of visitors from Russia reached 128,000 - 135% more than the same period last year.
The Ministry of tourism believes that there is a large potential to continue the growth in Russian tourist activity: “Taking into account the average annual economic growth at 6.7%, from 140 million Russian people there is a large section who are interested in and can afford a high quality holiday”.
The Ministry admits that a large proportion of this growth can be attributed to so-called one-day tourism, which lets Russian tourists travelling to Egypt, Turkey or Cyprus broaden their holiday experience by making a short sightseeing trip to Israel with virtually no formalities. However, things will change when the visa requirement is cancelled soon – one-day tourists will be able to prolong their stay and new travelers from Russia will be able to discover Israel.
Earlier, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Russia announced that the visa-free procedure will start no later than 20 September – the end of the 90-day period for ratifying the agreement. The press release from the Ministry of Tourism gives another date – 1 October, but, when asked by RIA Novosti, Ministry representatives did not confirm this.
Official representatives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Israel and the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv said that they did not know whether the transition date to a visa-free procedure would be changed. The Israeli Interior Ministry would not comment on this issue and has promised to resolve the situation.

Source: http://www.travel.ru