Some 2.25 million foreign tourists entered Israel in the first seven months of the year, with the largest group coming from the United States, figures the Central Bureau of Statistics released on Sunday show.

The total was nearly double that from the same period last year as the world was recovering from the coronavirus pandemic but still lower than in 2019.

The statistics also showed that 5.75 million Israelis went abroad in the first seven months of the year. Of course, this includes many citizens who went overseas more than one time during the period.

America topped the list of tourists to Israel with nearly 640,000 visitors, followed by about 160,000 from France, 130,000 from the United Kingdom, 120,000 from Germany and another 120,000 from Russia.

The Tourism Ministry forecasts that nearly 4 million tourists will visit by the end of the year. The record-breaking year for tourism in Israel in 2019 saw more than 4.5 million tourists arrive.

Last year, 2,675,000 foreign tourists visited Israel, compared to 397,000 in 2021 and 831,000 in 2020, when international travel was curbed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Israel was recently ranked the fifth-safest country in the world for tourists to visit.