All the news about Israeli tourism
2009-07-01 - Vol 20
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Anti-missile system to be fitted on Israeli civilian aircraft
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Minister of Transport, Yisrael Katz announced that all Israeli civilian aircraft will eventually be fitted with anti-missile equipment, this as part of a $76 million deal signed with Elbit Systems.
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Lufthansa increases its fuel surcharge
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Lufthansa has announced an increase in the fuel surcharge on all flights as a result of the 50 percent increase in the cost of aviation fuel. This will be the airline’s first increase since last July, after reducing prices twice during last autumn.
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New aviation agreement between Israel and Switzerland
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Representatives of the Ministries of Transport of Israel and Switzerland signed a new aviation agreement that will allow additional airlines to operate regular flights between the two countries.
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Pessimism for hoteliers in the north for July and August
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Following the sharp falls in hotel nights in most parts of the country; representatives of the tourist industry in the north have expressed their fears at the sluggishness at filling up their hotels as the peak summer season approaches.
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Israel Borovich expected to be appointed chairman of Tal Aviation
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Israel (Izzy) Borovich, former chairman of El Al and a member of the board of directors will soon be appointed chairman of Tal Aviation, which represents a number of foreign airlines. Tal Aviation was recently chosen as El Al’s representative in Athens.
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El Al to stop local flights from Ben Gurion Airport to Eilat
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El Al announced that it has been forced to stop its local flights between Ben Gurion Airport and Eilat from the 1st August. Vice President of Commercial & Industrial Affairs at El Al, Eli Cohen announced to Minister of Tourism Stas Misezhnikov, to the chairman of the Eilat Hotel Association and to the head of the Eilat municipality on the decision that was taken as a result of the economic recession.
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Director General of Ministry of Tourism: “Treasury’s evaluation too optimistic.”
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In a discussion between the Knesset’s finance committee and participants from the Ministry of Tourism, the Hotels Association, Tour organizers and airlines, the chairman of the Ministry of Tourism said that Israel is already ranked well below its neighbors in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index from the World Economic Forum. If the Treasury’s proposals are verified, Israel will not succeed in realizing her tourism potential.
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Antitrust Authority investigate the Travel Agents Association
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The antitrust regulators raided the offices of the Travel Agents Association and confiscated documents on suspicion that there have been attempts to find ways of coordinating handling charges collected by the airlines for tickets purchased via the internet. Yossi Fattal, head of the Travel Agents Association was summoned by the authorities for interrogation. Supervisor: “We are examining allegations regarding specific agents.”
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8% fewer people expected to travel abroad
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Ronen Karaso, vice president of marketing for Issta Lines, estimates that during the peak summer months, July and August, there will be an 8 percent fall in the number of Israelis traveling overseas. Karaso: “If it wasn’t for the sharp fall in holidays to Turkey, the figures would have been more positive.”
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Sun d’Or unable to fly to Russia
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Sun d’Or announced that it is unable to fly to the southern Russian cities of Sochi and Rostov, because they have not received the relevant permissions from the Russian aviation authorities. At the end of last week it was forced to cancel its maiden flight to these destinations because of the refusal of the authorities to approve Israeli security procedures.
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