RAMALLAH, August 1, 2011 (WAFA) - Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Monday said in a press release that domestic tourism in the Gaza Strip is higher than in the West Bank, with 45% of Gazan households having participated in a domestic trip in 2010 compared to 38% in the West Bank.
Almost 11% of all household trips were outside the Palestinian Territory; 16% of those were carried out by West Bank households compared to only 2% by Gaza households, said the press release.
PCBS stated that of all domestic trips, 43% of Palestinians made one trip, 23% made two trips, and 34% participated in three trips or more.
In terms of domestic destination, the most visited governorate in the West Bank was Tulkarm (25%) followed by Jericho and the Jordan Valley (22%), added PCBS. In the Gaza Strip, Khan Younis was the most visited by 38% of households, followed by 34% visiting Gaza governorate.
The average Palestinian household expenditure during domestic trips was US$51: $66 in the West Bank compared to $29 in the Gaza Strip, PCBS said.
Regarding locations visited in the Palestinian Territory, 86% of Palestinians reported the presence of restaurants and parks in addition to health facilities, while 64% of places visited had a cafe and 32% had a swimming pool, the press release said.
It added that the level of satisfaction of Palestinian households with these facilities was very good for 23% of the services provided by restaurants and parks, compared to 18% for services provided by swimming pools and only 7% for health facilities.
PCBS said that Jordan is the main destination for outbound trips as 61% of Palestinians travelled to Jordan, 16% to Israel, 7% to Egypt, 3% to the US, and 13% visited other countries. It added that 87% of households organized outbound trips themselves, compared to 13% who used the services of a travel agent.
The report featured an increase in outbound trips from 12.5% in 2004 to 11.4% in 2010 in the Palestinian Territory. Approximately 16% of households in the West Bank made trips abroad in 2004 compared to 7% of households in the Gaza Strip. In 2010, the percentage stayed at 16% in the West Bank but fell to below 2% in the Gaza Strip.
PCBS said survey results reveal that 63% of households in the Palestinian Territory who travelled abroad visited relatives and friends, while 27% did so for leisure and 10% travelled for business or work purposes.
Average household expenditure during an outbound trip was US$1022 of which US$269 was used for shopping and US$253 was spent on transportation and communications, concluded the press release.
R.Q./F.J.
