Closer ties and easier travel: Israel eyes pre-war tourist levels from India by 2027
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- Israel's Ministry of Tourism expects Indian visitor arrivals to return to pre-war levels by 2027, projecting recovery through stronger marketing, improved visa processing, and deeper bilateral ties.
- India-Israel arrivals stood at 69,100 in 2019 and nearly 44,000 between January and September 2023 before the Israel-Gaza war; Israel believes it would have crossed 100,000 annually had the conflict not interrupted momentum.
- Israel welcomed only 13,900 Indian visitors in 2025, a steep decline from pre-war figures that the ministry frames as a 'temporary disruption.'
- Amruta Bangera, Director of Marketing at Israel's Ministry of Tourism, confirmed there are currently no direct flights between India and Israel, with Indian travelers routing via Middle Eastern carriers.
- Israel is repositioning beyond religious tourism to court Indian leisure, MICE, wellness, luxury, and adventure travelers, reflecting shifting pre-pandemic demand patterns.
- Bangera said both Indian and Israeli carriers are 'keenly interested' in the market and expressed optimism about near-term progress on direct air access.
Why it matters: Israel needs to roughly triple its 2025 Indian visitor count of 13,900 within two years to hit its 2027 target. The absence of direct India-Israel flights is the most concrete bottleneck named in the source, and any carrier agreement would materially accelerate that recovery.
