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| Europeans flocking to Israel
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This week 23 companies and authorities representing Israel’s tourism industry exhibited at the five-day FITUR Tourism Trade Fair in Madrid. The fair is the largest of its kind in the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world.
The number of Israeli companies participating in the fair increased more than 40 percent on last year, displaying what the Israeli Tourism Ministry claims is a rising demand for Israel as a tourism destination in Spain, Latin America and Portugal.
Israel’s Minister of Tourism Avraham Hirchson said Israel is ushering in a "new era" in tourism. More than 1.9 million tourists arrived in Israel in 2005, up 27 per cent over the previous year. Hirchson says he expects this "positive trend to continue" as Israel gears up to welcome an expected three million tourists this year.
European tourism rise
Tourists from Europe are flocking to Israel in greater numbers as the Ministry of Tourism markets Tel Aviv and Eilat as "Sun and Fun Weekend" destinations for European tourists.
In 2005, Israel welcomed over 1,082,000 European tourists, up 29 percent from almost 838,000 the previous year. A record number – some 311,400 – arrived from France alone. That figure is up 21 percent from 2004.
"By focusing on the leisure traveler, Israel has adopted a new tourism marketing approach," Tourism Ministry Director Eli Cohen said he headed to Madrid to represent Israel at FITUR.
Spain showed the most significant rise in the number of tourists to Israel in 2005: a 142 per cent jump to 52,000 tourists from just over 21,000 the previous year. To capitalize on the trend, Air Madrid will begin service from Spain to Israel in April.
Costly campaign
The Ministry is sparing no expense in its efforts. It launched a 500 million Euro campaign in Germany last August, attracting some 105,200 German tourists in 2005, up 39 per cent from 2004.
It is also investing millions to attract British visitors with advertisements in London’s Underground, trademark taxis, Britain’s national press and UK websites. The UK campaign will expand to television ads to be broadcast on major UK televisions networks. In the first nine months of 2005, almost 115,000 British tourists entered Israel, up six per cent from the same period of the previous year.
Italy has been identified as a priority market this year, with an increased marketing budget and an expanded office in Milan. The number of Italian tourists rose 74 per cent to 73,000 in 2005.
This year, Israel enjoyed 23 per cent more tourists from the Netherlands and 36 per cent more from Scandinavia.
Although only a moderate 12 per cent more tourists came from Belgium, Sabine Schanzer, Manager of Weinberg Travel in Antwerp, says there is a definite "pick up" in travel to Israel. "People are less afraid of the terror attacks," she says. "After all, there were also attacks in London, Madrid and New York. We are now under the impression in Europe that the situation in Israel is calmer."
Hotels filling up
The influx of European tourists is being felt in Israel’s hotels. According to Sheraton Israel Spokesperson Ariella Mader, it is the tourists, rather than the Israelis, who are once again occupying the hotels.
"Many tourists, especially those from France, hold their family celebrations in our hotels and bring over 200-300 of their relatives each time," she said.
Intense efforts are also being made to open the country’s skies to competition with the aim of lowering airfares from Europe to Israel.
In November, TUI, a major German tourism concern, launched flights between Munich and Tel Aviv and Eilat. Similar flights now exist between Russia, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom and Eilat and Tel Aviv with the aim to afford Europeans more travel options.
"The data shows the effectiveness of our marketing efforts," Hirchson concluded.
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