DEVELOPMENT TRENDS OF THE TOURIST ECONOMY OF ISRAEL IN 2020-2023

Abstract

Tourism is one of the main contributors to Israel's budget and one of the most promising sectors of the economy. The main types of tourism are gastronomic and religious, because it is on the territory of this country that the main Christian shrines are located, and the cuisine of Israel is one of the most recognizable in the world. The country's recreational opportunities are also invaluable, as its territory includes beaches of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, as well as medical sanatoriums of the Dead Sea. Israel is one of the most visited countries in the world, being in a state of cold war throughout its history. The work determined the dynamics of the development of the tourist services market in Israel, established that the number of foreign tourists in 2019 was equal to 440 thousand people, after which in 2020 the indicator continued to grow and stopped at the mark of 450 thousand foreign travelers. In the period of 2019-2020, the largest tourist boom in the entire history of keeping statistics of visits to Israel is observed. However, the coronavirus crisis caused global changes in market trends and provoked a drop in the number to 52.9 thousand people in 2021, but the industry gradually developed, already in 2022 334 thousand people visited Israel, and in 2023, due to military operations, the number of tourists decreased significantly and amounted to 304 thousand people. The study is devoted to the analysis of the problems and peculiarities of the development of the tourist industry in Israel, in the context of the state of war and the unstable political situation, to outline the prospects for overcoming them and the sustainable development of the tourist market in the post-war period. The paper analyzed the theoretical prerequisites for the formation and development of the market of international tourist services, taking into account the socio-economic crisis.