Hotels by the Dead Sea in southern Israel on July 10, 2019. Photo: Gershon Elinson/Flash90.

JNS.org – The Israel Hotel Association announced that occupancy in June was at levels near those of 2019, before the start of COVID-19.

Domestic tourism is booming, working on a comeback after foreign tourists were barred from entering the country for almost two years during the pandemic.

It will take time for international tourists to catch up to 2019 levels, according to an examination of overnight stays from last month, reported the Israeli business daily Globes on Tuesday.

In total, the month of June saw 2.1 million hotel overnights — a 5 percent decrease from June 2019.

Israelis were responsible for 1.5 million of them — an increase of 18 percent from June 2019 but a decrease of 8 percent from 2021. Foreign tourists accounted for 643,000 overnights in June, down 36 percent from 2019.

Eilat’s hotels led the pack with an occupancy rate of 81 percent, which was 5 percent higher than June 2019.

“Israelis continue to express confidence in the local hotel industry, and thanks to this, there is a continuing upward trend in hotel overnights,” stated the association, according to the report.