Tourism to Palestine is gradually getting back to the pre-pandemic numbers as 700,000 tourists have visited Palestine since the start of the year, today said Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Rula Maayah.

She told WAFA that tourism companies have returned to work at 95% of their capacity and that the number of foreign tourists who have visited Palestine since the beginning of this year has reached 700,000, in addition to 1.2 million visitors from the Palestinian cities and towns inside Israel.

Maayah said that foreign tourism was mainly from the United States, Poland, Romania, Italy, Germany, Spain, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Britain, France and Russia, expecting more than 100,000 tourists to visit Palestine this Christmas season as hotel occupancy rate is expected to reach more than 80%.

She said that reservations for the first quarter of the year 2023 indicate a hotel occupancy rate of more than 85%.

The Tourism Minister said that four new hotels are going to open in Bethlehem by the middle of January after the foundation stone was laid before the pandemic for 10 hotels in Bethlehem.

Jerusalem and Bethlehem are the main destinations for foreign tourists who want to visit the Holy Land. The Nativity Church in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is popular for tourists during the Christmas season, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City, the location of the crucifixion and burial of Christ, is also popular for tourists during Easter and throughout the year.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency