Israel eyes 50pc increase in Indian tourists in 2016

Israel, a top tourist destination in the world, is eyeing 50 per cent growth in holiday-makers from India, an emerging market for the West Asian country, mainly in the "MICE" and leisure segments.
"Israel is an emerging tourist destination in India and witnessed a growth of 13 per cent in 2015. About 40,000 Indians travelled to Israel in 2015. Seeing this growth, we have tripled the marketing budget for India in 2016, to USD 3 million, to tap travel agents and direct consumers.
"We are confident that in 2016 more Indians will choose Israel as their favourite holiday destination," Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) Director General Amir Halevi told reporters here.

Israel is expecting a 50 per cent growth in Indian tourist arrivals this year, he said.
"Initially, our focus is to tap big cities in India before penetrating deeper into the country to promote Israel as a tourist destination. India is the top source market for Israel in Asia and we want to tap the huge opportunities available here," he said.
El Al, the flag carrier of Israel, provides direct connectivity to India, from where the airline is seeing an increase in bookings, he said.

IMOT is in discussion with the Civil Aviation Ministry and Indian carriers for launching direct flights to Israel from India, Halevi said.

El Al currently operates four weekly flights between Mumbai to Tel Aviv.
Israel, which mainly attracts pilgrims, wants to promote itself as MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) and leisure destinations, he said.
"We will have more tourism promotions and activities than ever in India and target travel trade and end-customers through various marketing tools.
"We will also target end-consumers through marketing on digital platforms. We are sure that through robust strategies we will see a favourable growth in tourist arrivals from India this year. We are also looking at associating with Bollywood to promote Indian films in Israel," IMOT India Director Hassan Madah said.

Israel has set a target of attracting one lakh sightseers from India by the end of 2017, he added.
Some of the tourist attractions in Israel are Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Eilat, Nazareth, Haifa, Akko, Massada and Negev Desert.