| European charters return to Israel
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Israeli Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson greets TUI Executive Sebastian Ebel
Photo: Sasson Tiram
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Europe’s largest tour operator, the German TUI group, has resumed charter flights to Israel after several years of absence. The move is seen as a further sign of Israel’s desire to liberalise the aviation market and support charter flights to its cities.
Last Thursday, a fully booked aircraft belonging to Hapagfly, a TUI group airline, arrived in Tel Aviv from Munich as part of the group’s inaugural flight.
Tel Aviv will be serviced once a week from various German airports via the Munich hub. These include Berlin, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Munster-Osnabruck, Frankfurt, Hanover, Hamburg, Leipzig, Saarbrucken and Stuttgart.
Time is ripe
In total, 150 TUI-operated flights from Germany and Holland are expected to arrive in Israel this winter.
The German national airliner Lufthansa, is also offering direct flights to Israel.
“The time is ripe for a return to Israel. Despite the latest incidents, the overall situation is more stable and calm. The demand for holidays in Israel has increased appreciably,” Sebastian Ebel, a member of TUI’s executive board, told EJP.
Tourism to Israel has grown significantly in 2005. After some 1,5 million arrivals in 2004, the Israeli tourism ministry has registered an increase of 28 percent from January to September this year.
 The time is ripe for a return to Israel. Despite the latest incidents, the overall situation is more stable and calm
Sebastian Ebel, TUI | In the first nine months of the year, 74,965 German tourists entered Israel, an increase of 35% over the same period last year.
Besides Germany, charter companies from Holland and Scandinavian countries are operating flights to Israel.
Moreover, 22 flights are expected to bring thousands of Russian tourists to Israel’s southern resort of Eilat this winter. The first weekly flight from Moscow landed in the city this week and more will follow until the end of April 2006. “We would like to welcome 400,000 Russian tourists in 2006, “ Israeli tourism minister Avraham Hirchson said.
New era in Israeli tourism
“TUI’s resuming flights to Israel heralds a new era in Israeli tourism,” Hirchson added.
We would like to weldcome 400,000 Russian tourists in 2006
Avraham Hirchson, Israeli Minister of tourism | “It represents an expression of confidence in Israel as a favoured tourist destination and is a result of the ministry’s ongoing efforts to open the country’s skies to competition and to lower prices of flights to the country,” the ministry said.
TUI Germany has again included Israel in its programme for the 2005/2006 winter season after withdrawing from the country at the beginning of the second Intifada at the end of 1999.
The group’s tour operators in Holland have also included Israel in their programmes.
Only 1,555 tourists, most of them from Holland, travelled with the TUI group in 2004/2005 while some 30,000 are expected in the 2005/2006 season, the group said.
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