Israel announces tourism rebuilding plan

Israel launches a program to rebuild and re-start country’s battered tourism industry

Israeli Ministry of Tourism announced that it has launched a program to rebuild and re-start Israel’s battered tourism industry, which was gravely impaired by the COVID-19 disaster.

According to Israeli tourism officials, the plan includes an international advertising campaign to encourage foreign tourists to visit Israel, focusing on New York and London, as well as the United Arab Emirates, with which Israel signed an historic normalization agreement in September 2020.

The plan also includes the program to hold cultural, sports and leisure events in Israel to promote tourism to potential foreign visitors.

Resumption of international flights to the southern Red Sea resort city of Eilat is also a part of tourism sector rebuilding program.

Last month, Israeli authorities announced that the country would allow vaccinated tourist groups to enter Israel starting from May 23.

According to Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the coronavirus pandemic has led to a fall of 98.5 percent in foreign tourist arrivals to Israel during the first two months of 2021.

Only 9,900 tourists visited Israel in January-February of 2021, while the number was 652,400 in the same period of 2020, just before the pandemic crisis in the country.

According to Israel’s Minister of Tourism Orit Farkash-Hacohen, the program will serve as a growth engine to revive the tourism industry and the Israeli economy in a responsible and balanced manner.

“It is our time to utilize Israel’s huge advantage as a health-safe destination, and harness it for the benefit of our empty coffers and the tourism industry, which includes hundreds of thousands of workers,” the Minister said.