Israel is a young nation, and tourism still has enormous potential for expansion
How important is tourism to the Israeli economy?
Amir Halevi - Israel is a young nation, and tourism still has enormous potential for expansion. Recently, its share was around 3 % to 4 % of GDP, but over the next few years we're aiming for figures of around 7 % to 8 %, like many other countries around the world.
How does Israel intend to achieve this objective?
A. H. - Firstly, through major communication campaigns to show that the country is not just a historical and religious destination. We want to promote, through...
Israel is a young nation, and tourism still has enormous potential for expansion
How important is tourism to the Israeli economy?
Amir Halevi - Israel is a young nation, and tourism still has enormous potential for expansion. Recently, its share was around 3 % to 4 % of GDP, but over the next few years we're aiming for figures of around 7 % to 8 %, like many other countries around the world.
How does Israel intend to achieve this objective?
A. H. - Firstly, through major communication campaigns to show that the country is not just a historical and religious destination. For example, we want to promote Tel Aviv's nightlife and its very modern, creative and international feel. 40 % of Israeli tourism is still religious tourism. But more and more major events and conferences, such as the DLD for new technologies, are taking place across the country. We also want to show that Israel is the beach, the sun, the desert, the mountains... It's a tiny country, but with enormous diversity. Of course, we also communicate a lot on the issue of security. In people's minds, Israel is this little country close to Syria, but in fact we're extremely up to date on this issue.
Will there be any improvements in terms of infrastructure?
A. H. - Absolutely! The first big news is the opening of a new airport in Eilat by summer 2017. This will significantly increase the influx of tourists. In addition, since the open skies agreement four years ago, the number of direct flights to Israel has increased considerably. This year, we counted 600,000 American tourists, the highest number ever recorded. This figure is set to rise further with the forthcoming opening of direct flights to Boston and San Francisco. Lastly, we have plans to renovate the Jerusalem International Convention Center, and a new space, which can accommodate almost 5,000 people, has just opened at the Tel Aviv Conference Center.
Is the hotel industry following this trend?
A. H. - Yes, that's right. For a long time, we stagnated at 50,000 hotel rooms, but we've just gone up to almost 55,000. For its part, parliament has just decided to stimulate the tourism industry by proposing to increase this figure even further over the next few years, with openings in Eilat and Jerusalem in particular, in addition to Tel Aviv.
