All the news about Israeli tourism

From the start of the year until the end of September 2009 a total of 1.9 million tourists visited Israel, this is a reduction of 15 percent compared to last year when 2.2 million tourists visited Israel.  During September 242,000 foreign tourists visited Israel, a fall of 8 percent compared to September 2008.

In recent months the Ministry of Tourism began an advertising campaign, marketing Israel as an attractive tourist destination for the winter of 2009/10, investing more than 55 million shekels up until the end of 2009. An additional budget of 60 million shekels has also been allocated to this campaign for the first few months of the next year, so that the Ministry’s target of an additional one million tourists for the next two years can be realised. (The budget allocated to marketing for 2010 totals 250 million shekels).

The aim of the advertising campaign is to improve the image of Israel as an attractive tourist product during the winter season with the main emphasis focused on the city of Eilat as a leading winter destination.  The campaign is aimed at the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Italy and the Scandinavian countries, as well as to countries which are interested in Israel as a tourist destination for the first time, including South Korea, Poland, Brazil and China.

The campaign will also be accompanied by intense activities increasing the number of wholesalers marketing Israel, an increase in seating capacity and frequency of flights to Israel and the introduction of new flight routes to operate to Israel.

Minister of Tourism, Stas Misezhnikov said that the Israeli winter is an attraction to tourists from many countries around the world and the Ministry of Tourism will increase its marketing efforts in the central states of North America, in Europe and in Russia; this in order to meet the target of a million additional tourists for the next two years.