TEL AVIV, July 14. /TASS/. Russia ranks fifth in terms of tourist traffic to Israel, with a doubling in growth reported over the first six months of this year, the press service of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism said on Friday.

"The tourist traffic from Russia to Israel surged by 100% over the first half of 2023," the press service said. Russia ranks fifth in terms of inbound tourist traffic to Israel over the first six months of this year, after the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Germany.

"Russia - 103,400 tourists, up 100% against the first half of 2022 and 33% lower than in the first half of 2019," the Ministry said. "Among them, 15,200 travelers arrived in Israel from Russia in June [2023], which is 21% more than in June 2022 and 32% less than in June 2019," the press service added.

"Overall, 1,970,800 tourists from the whole world visited Israel from January to June 2023, which is 95% more than in the like period of 2022 and 13% less than in the similar period from the record high year of 2019," the Israeli ministry said.