A view of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Photo: Berthold Werner.

JNS.org – Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Tuesday unveiled his plan to bring 10 million tourists to Israel’s capital every year. The initiative will be an important part of Barkat’s plan to introduce 100,000 new jobs during his next term—if he is re-elected.

Eighty percent of tourists visiting Israel stop in Jerusalem. In 2012, some 3.1 million foreign tourists and 762,000 domestic tourists stayed at Jerusalem hotels (an 11 percent increase over the previous year).

Barkat, who took part in the 2013 Jerusalem Innovative Tourism Summit on Tuesday, remarked that up until several years ago, only 2 million tourists visited the city annually, whereas today the number has doubled to about 4 million.

“In recent years, we have allocated a lot of resources to the development of tourism in the city… I am pleased that we can show positive results, and the tourism in the city is displaying a consistent upward trend,” Barkat said.