ISRAEL TOURISM
ITN INTERVIEW WITH MINISTER OF TOURISM HAIM KATZ Haim Katz is the Israeli Minister of Tourism. Previously, Katz was the Minister of Labor, Welfare and Social Services from 2015 to 2019, and served as a member of the Knesset from 2003
W hen do you think the figures for the arrival of tourists to Israel will compare to the good period that was during 2019, right before the COVID-19 virus? The entry data into Israel shows that we are on the right track to breaking records. It seems that already this year we will pass the four million tourists. If we subtract from the data: Russia, Ukraine and China, which opened late after the COVID-19 and only recently to group tourism in Israel, we are at a smaller distance from the record year in 2019. There are markets where there has been a significant increase in tourist arrivals and we are already breaking records in them. The US is our largest and leading market. Since the beginning of the year - approximately 790,000 tourists from the United States have entered, while in the corresponding period in
2019 approximately 670 thousand have entered. We are also growing in India, Brazil, the Philippines, Mexico, and more. To which new destinations does the Ministry of Tourism allocate resources to bring in new tourists? China, Morocco, another country? I marked the Asian market as the generator of the biggest change in the volume of tourism entering Israel. This is at the same time as our activity in the traditional countries, such as the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany. We will consider increasing investment in Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines, in light of the increase in tourist arrivals from the countries. In accordance with my agreement with the Minister of Health and Interior, Moshe Arbel, starting at the end of the year - the
E-visa system will come into operation, for submitting visa applications online, and a pilot will start for those arriving from India, which will facilitate the submission of applications and increase the number of tourists. This is a move that is expected to dramatically increase tourism traffic from India to Israel. Considerable investment will also be in China. In cooperation that I had with the Chinese ambassador to Israel Chai Ron, China recently updated the list of recommended group trips and included Israel in the list. We signed with a local marketing company in China and hosted influencers to visit Israel. At the same time, we started a campaign on social networks that received exposure of hundreds of millions. Over the past two years, dozens of new hotel rooms have begun to be
4 • www.itn.co.il
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator