International visitors grew by 5.1% y/y to 1.4mn in 4Q24, with tourists, the primary segment, rising by 8.4% y/y, while same-day visitors down by 4.8% y/y. Tourist numbers fully recovered to 100.8% of 4Q19 level in 4Q24, bringing total 2024 tourist arrivals to 100.2% of 2019 level. Notably, the full-year tourist rebound was largely driven by 1Q24’s (106.4% recovery) strong performance, as subsequent quarters were impacted by political instability, particularly affecting arrivals from high-spending markets such as the EU, - according tot he reprot published by Galt&Taggart.
Visitor growth in 4Q24 was primarily fueled by strong arrivals from Israel and Russia, recording the growth of 136.1% y/y and 15.4% y/y, respectively, along with a notable rise from India & China (44.7% y/y).
In contrast, visitor numbers from the EU declined by 3.5% y/y. The majority of visitors came from neighboring countries (60.9%), followed by the EU (6.4%), Israel (5.8%), India & China (4.2%) and Kazakhstan (2.3%).
Tourism revenues amounted to US$ 963.7mn in 4Q24, marking a 10.3% y/y, driven by October-November growth, while political instability caused a 10.1% y/y drop in December revenues, according to our estimates. Overall, revenue growth was positively impacted by Israel (+128.0% y/y), other non-traditional markets (+18.9% y/y) and Russia (+2.5% y/y), while revenues from Turkey (-8.4% y/y) and the EU (-5.9% y/y) declined. The top sources of tourism revenue were Russia (18.2%), followed by the Turkey (13.9%), EU (11.9%), and Israel (11.8%) in 4Q24.
