Israel Active

Tourist entries (those who stay more than one night) into Israel were up 19 percent to 200,000 in January as compared with a year earlier, breaking a new record.

Israel's Composite State of the Economy Index for Jan 2014 increased by 0.3 percent. Exports of goods and services rose significantly. The IMF also said that Israel’s economic fundamentals remain strong, with solid GDP growth and low unemployment and inflation.

The first “Up” flight has officially landed in Israel. “Up” is El Al airline’s new aviation brand offering low fare flights to destinations including Berlin, Budapest, Kiev, Prague and Larnaca.

Noble Energy has signed a 15-year agreement in the Jordanian capital of Amman, to sell at least $500 million of gas from the Tamar field to two Jordanian companies. It is the first export deal for Israeli natural gas. A pipeline will go through the Dead Sea to Jordan.

Two Israeli hotels have made it into Travel + Leisure magazine's 2014 It List, which introduces the 70 most promising new hotels in the world: The Ritz-Carlton in Herzliya and Alma Hotel & Lounge in Tel Aviv.

(Thanks to Size Doesn’t Matter) Toronto’s Porter Airlines and Israel’s EL AL have signed an agreement. They will co-ordinate operations at Newark International Airport in New Jersey to connect passengers between Tel Aviv and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and other Canadian destinations.

Israel Railways has reported a new record in the number of passengers. Israeli trains carried 45 million passengers in 2013, 12% more than in 2012. The growth was due to the opening of new lines plus more new double-decker carriages. Punctuality rose to 93.3% from 90% in 2012.

Japanese Internet giant Rakuten has just bought Israeli-developed video and voice communications app Viber for $900 million. Viber allows users to make free phone and video calls within its network, and has over 200 million users all over the world.

Good economic summary by Yoram Ettinger.

(Thanks to algemeiner) Ten of Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett’s former colleagues at Cyota have built companies of their own. One, Michal Tzur, co-founded open source video platform Kaltura, which has just raised an additional $47 million of capital.