The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities jointly issue a press release on the occasion of

 World Tourism Day, 27/09/2023

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, issued a press release on the occasion of the World Tourism Day, which falls on September 27 each year.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has set the theme of the World Tourism Day for 2023 to be “Tourism and Green Investment"

On this occasion, the most prominent tourism indicators in Palestine were presented, which reflect a clear growth in the tourism sector compared to the previous two years, as follows:

The Number of Hotel Guests in the West Bank Doubled during the First Half of 2023

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 thousand, who stayed 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 European Union, followed by Palestinians residing in the 1948 territories with

14%, while domestic guests constituted 10%, and 36% of total guests were from the rest of the world.

Number of Hotel Guests in the West Bank by Governorate, during the First Half of

the Years (2023-2019)

-:No observations

The Number of Inbound Visits to the West Bank Doubled during the First Half of 2023[1]

More than 1.9 million inbound visits (same-day visitors) to tourist sites in the West Bank during the first half of 2023, of which 1,056 thousand Palestinians residing in the 1948 territories and 866 thousand arrivals from abroad.

Number of Visits during the First Half of the Years (2020-2023)

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 Al-Aghwar 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 the 1948 territories, they were distributed as follows: 23% of the visits were in Jericho and Al-Aghwar 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.

An Increase in Domestic Visits

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.

A Decrease in the Number of Employees Working in Tourism Sector in the Second Quarter of 2023.

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 tourism sector reached 50.3 thousand employees during the second quarter of 2023, constituting 4.3% of the total employees in Palestine.

The number of employees working in tourism sector is distributed according to the status of employment to 38.8 thousand wage workers (34.6 thousand males, and 4.2 thousand females), and 6.1 thousand are self-employed (5.2 thousand males and 0.8 thousand females).