Israel Ministry of Tourism Conducts a Roadshow in New Delhi

Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) conducted a roadshow in the capital city of New Delhi on 30thAugust to enhance commercial ties with the Indian travel trade fraternity. The 20 member delegation, comprising of destination management companies (DMCs) from Israel interacted with over 200 key travel and tour operators, MICE providers, up-market leisure operators and media personnel. The event started off with a presentation leading to an interactive workshop with the IMOT team and trade partners. The roadshow included interactive B2B sessions, education programmes and workshops to aid trade members in planning itineraries and responding to customer queries.

Commenting on the roadshow, Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism – India & Philippines said, “Tourism is on the rise in Israel and inbound arrivals from India has appreciably increased in the last few years. With a half yearly record growth of 82% as compared to the same period in 2015, more than 44,000 Indian tourists have already visited the country from January to July, 2018. The introduction of Air India’s direct flight connectivity from New Delhi to Tel Aviv received an overwhelming response resulting in the national carrier to increase their frequency to four flights a week. This indicates the growing demand and amplified interest of Indian travellers towards Israel.”

In March this year, Air India launched its historic direct flight operations from New Delhi to Tel Aviv. With one-way duration of 7 hours and 10 minutes, Air India is the fastest nonstop flight between India and Israel taking a straight route between the two countries. In addition to Air India, Israeli airline El Al currently has three weekly nonstop flights from Mumbai to Tel Aviv. Israeli carrier Arkia has also expressed interest to begin operations connecting Israel and India soon.

Madah added, “We have positively introduced various initiatives to ease the visa procedure for Indians. Along with relaxation of documents for persons who have availed visas of Schengen countries, US, Canada, Australia or Israel and have completed their travel to these countries, Fast Track visa processing for Israel was also incorporated earlier this year. Additionally, reduction in visa fee to INR 1,100 will encourage more people to choose Israel as a holiday destination boosting inbound numbers from India”.

Israel has quickly become Middle-East’s newest business tourism destination, gaining popularity with the Indian corporate segment. A number of world class hotels, state-of-the-art convention centres, amazing beaches, thriving nightlife, international cuisine and modern infrastructure including free Wi-Fi across cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are features that lure the business traveller to the start-up nation. The Dead Sea and Eilat are great MICE add-ons especially with a new international airport coming up in Eilat early next year. Israel is a compact country and most locations are accessible within a few hours of driving.