by Suman Gupta
In continuation of its plan to increase the number of Indian arrivals to the country, the Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT), conducted their second roadshow for 2017 in India. The roadshow was in a networking workshop format and commenced on August 21 in Mumbai followed by Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and concluded in Chennai on August 30. The Israeli delegation was led by Hassan Madah, Director – Israel Ministry of Tourism, India along with Judah Samuel, Director – Marketing, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India and included representative partners from the tourism industry of Israel. The roadshow witnessed a participation of over 100 travel agents in each city.
Speaking at the roadshow, Hassan Madah, Director – Israel Ministry of Tourism India said, “Over 34,000 Indians have already visited Israel in the last seven months of 2017 marking a growth of 36 percent in Indian tourist arrivals. The historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel has sparked a renewed interest among Indians to visit Israel and we want to leverage this to increase destination awareness among Indian travel trade and MICE agents. The response across the 6 cities was very positive and promising.”
Israel recorded an exponential growth of 79% in Indian arrivals in June compared to the same month last year. Currently, El Al provides direct connectivity between India and Israel and has 3 (3 in the summer, 4 in the winter) weekly flights from Mumbai to Tel Aviv. Other connections to Israel include Turkish Airlines from Mumbai and Delhi to Tel Aviv (via Istanbul), Ethiopian Airlines from Mumbai and Delhi to Tel Aviv (via Addis Ababa) and Aeroflot Russian Airlines from Delhi to Tel Aviv (via Moscow), including other European carriers.
