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, 27/09/2022

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 of each year.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has set the theme of World Tourism Day for the year 2022 to be “Rethinking Tourism".

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 2022

The number of hotel guests during the first half of 2022 doubled        twice compared to the same period of the previous year, as the number of hotel guests in the West Bank reached 145 thousand, who stayed 362 thousand nights.

Bethlehem hotels received the largest number of guests with 34% of the total number of hotel guests, followed by Ramallah and Al-Bireh hotels with 25%, while Jericho and Al-Aghwar hotels with 17%.

It is worth noting that 39% of hotel guests are inbound visitors from outside Palestine, followed by Palestinians residing in the 1948 territories with

32%, while domestic guests constituted 29% of the total guests.

Number of Hotel Guests in the West Bank by Governorate, during the First Half of the Years (2022-2019)

-: No observations

The Number of Inbound Visits to the West Bank Doubled during the First Half of 2022[1]

More than 1.1 million inbound visits (same-day visitors) to tourist sites in the West Bank during the first half of 2022, of which 893.3 thousand Palestinians residing in the 1948 territories and 251.7 thousand arrivals from abroad.

Number of Visits during the First Half of the Years  (2020-2022)

The number of inbound visits from outside Palestine during the first half of 2022 was distributed by governorate as follows: 56% in Bethlehem Governorate, 22% in Jericho and Al-Aghwar Governorate, 18% in Nablus Governorate, and 4% 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: 49% of the visits were in Jericho and Al-Aghwar, 18% in Jenin, 12% in Nablus, and 21% of the visits were distributed to the rest of the West Bank governorates.

Increase in Domestic Visits

During the first half of 2022, tourist sites in the West Bank witnessed an improvement in the movement of domestic visitors, resulting in 1,745 thousand visits to tourist sites, gardens and various parks. Compared to the same period in 2021, the number of domestic visits increased by 68%.

Local visits were concentrated in Qalqilya Governorate with 23%, followed by Nablus, Jericho and Al-Aghwar Governorates with 17% each, then Ramallah and Al-Bireh and Jenin Governorates with apercentage of 11% each, while 21% of the visits were distributed to the rest of the West Bank governorates.

An Increase in the Number of Employees Working in the Tourism Sector in the Second Quarter of 2022.

The number of employees working in tourism activities increased by 28% compared to the same period in 2021, as the number of employees working in the tourism sector reached 54.2 thousand  employees during the second quarter of 2022, constituting 5% of the total employees in Palestine.

The number of employees working in the tourism sector is distributed according to the status of employment to 47.3 thousand wage workers 44.4 thousand males, and 2.9 thousand females), and 7.0 thousand are self-employed (6.1 thousand males and 0.9 thousand females).