Facts and Figures - 18th Maccabiah Games

18^th Maccabiah Games
Israel, July 8 -23 2009

World's Largest Jewish Event - Israel's Biggest Tourism Event

10,000 Jewish and Israeli Athletes from 60+ Countries compete

20,000 tourists from Diaspora visit Israel for the Games and Maccabiah Cultural Events

Mission of the 18^th Maccabiah

• Celebrating Worldwide Jewish Fellowship,
• Pride, Strength and Solidarity in a massed and exciting
• International-Quality Sports Festival Event in Israel,
• Showcasing the Value of Sports to the Jewish People.
  

Unique Value of the 18^th Maccabiah

• No other Event or Organization achieves anything comparable:
  
• Brings more Jews into Significant Personal Contact with our Identity, Culture, History, Heritage and Traditions
• 3000 Junior Maccabiah Athletes, Girls and Boys aged 15-18.
• 5000 Open Athletes, 2000 Masters and Paralympic Women & Men.
• 80-90% of Diaspora athletes will be first-time visitors to Israel, likewise a similar proportion of thousands of Maccabiah Games tourists.
• Only around 1 in 9 Diaspora Jews have visited Israel, seen Jerusalem, the Western Wall, Yad Vashem, Masada or Galilee…..
  

Dream Team of the Diaspora - Israel Partnership Injects

+$100m into Israel's Economy -- on an investment of +$23m

Private Israeli and Diaspora Donors, Commercial Sponsors,

the Government of Israel and Municipal Authorities.

Athletes accommodated in 40 Hotels, more than 100k nights;

450k kosher meals, 1.5m quarts of mineral water, 200k meals-to-go;

250 shuttle buses per day; 500 tour buses;

Tourists treble those figures.

Projected Average Cost of 1 Maccabiah Athlete: $4,500 including Flight Costs

Prime-time Televised Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Cultural Events, Athletes Welcome Evening, Israel Philharmonic Park Concert, many others

Maintains Israel as an International Venue

Staging the World's 3^rd Largest Sports Event (after the Olympics,

the Maccabiah rivals the world university games for the # 2 spot)

slamdunks and discredits malevolent political "Ban-and-Boycott Israel" brigades

unfriendly states, international and regional sports bodies and teams.