Israel earned $105 million from a record influx of 437,000 tourists in 1970 despite a tense political situation, aerial hijackings by terrorists and a serious cholera outbreak in Jerusalem last fall. Minister of Tourism Moshe Kol said today that the number of tourists was seven percent greater than in 1969 and the income from tourism 18 percent higher. He said it did not include $50 million spent on fares on El Al, the Israeli national airline. According to Kol, 46 percent of last year’s tourist traffic originated in the United States and Canada. Tourism from the U.S. rose by 13 percent compared to 1969, from Brazil 21 percent, from West Germany 24 percent and from Sweden and Belgium 12 and 15 percent respectively. But the number of visitors from Britain, Norway, Holland, Switzerland and Austria declined, Kol said.
The Tourism Ministry said that 40 percent of last year’s tourists were non-Jews, more than half of them Christian pilgrims. The average income per tourist was put at $214 compared to $199 in 1969. Chanoch Givton, director general of the Tourism Ministry said last night that Israel aims to increase its tourist traffic by 100,000 a year over the next three years. He said the Ministry has commissioned the Louis Harris firm in the U.S. to undertake a comprehensive market research project in that country and Canada and disclosed plans for an extensive promotional campaign by television in major U.S. and Canadian cities. Givton said that El Al and Canadian Pacific Airlines will establish a joint service between Tel Aviv and Canada next spring.
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