Israel India | Business Guide | 2017

104 > Travel & Tourism > Marketing Israel Israel-India > Business Guide > 2017 Milind Soman - model, Bollywood actor and fitness ambassador - recently visited Israel to participate in the annual Winner Jerusalem Marathon, in which he ran the half marathon. Even though his visit was brief, he enjoyed his visit to the Old City of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea Fitness Ambassador and Actor Milind Soman at theWesternWall in Jerusalem The office also conducts regular training sessions for tour operators and travel agents around the country to ensure that knowledge about Israel as a destination is available and where any queries can be addressed immediately. Familiarisation trips,represented by both travel trade andmainstream media, are a valuable activity that have assisted in changing the perception of Israel as a pilgrimage and historical destination, highlighting different themes including luxury travel, adventure activities,women-friendly and food centric trips,to name a few.Some of the top newspapers and magazines as well as travel publications have featured Israel,one citing it as a destination“…with its myriad offerings such as unspoiled nature, exciting cities, rich heritage, intriguing architecture and unbelievably delicious cuisine, has a little something for everyone.” - (Rama Ahuja – ‘Millionaire Asia’). Mr. Ashwani Lohan, CMD Air India, flanked by Mr. Hassan Madah and Mr. Pankaj Srivastava, overlooking Jaffa Coast From Bollywood to Tel Aviv and Back TheMinistry of Tourismalso coordinated Bollywood actress and fashion icon Sonam Kapoor’s visit, who travelled to Israel for a photoshoot and spent a few days visiting attractions in the Old City of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv,and the Dead Sea Region.Milind Soman - model,Bollywood actor and fitness ambassador - recently visited Israel to participate in the annual Winner JerusalemMarathon, in which he ran the half marathon.Even though his visit was brief,he enjoyed his visit to the Old City of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. With support from the India Office, television production crews have visited Israel and have aired featured episodes - a 30-minute segment was aired on India Today,four episodes on Israel are slated for release on TravelXP and there is significant interest from the Bollywood industry to film in Israel. In 2016,the Israeli Ministry of Tourism invested INR 13CR (approximately USD 1.9M) in an advertising campaign on television,digital platforms and in print – in daily newspapers and magazines, showcasing the tourist attractions in Israel.The campaignwas live for a total of 4months and resulted in a number of queries about Israel as a destination from both the travel industry and travellers alike. In 2017, the India Office is planning to invest in two campaigns, targeting the Indian summer travel period in mid-March and another in September. The India Office is also investing in joint marketing ventures with different tour operators in India to utilise alternative mediums of promoting the destination as well. Air India will fly between India and Israel Mr.Ashwani Lohan, Chairman & Managing Director of Air India, and Mr.Pankaj Srivastava,Commercial Director,visited Israel inMarch 2017 accompanied by Mr.Hassan Madah,Director of the Israel Ministry of TourismOffice in India,and announced their intention to start flights between India and Israel effective May 2017. With the addition of the national carrier connecting the two countries, the Ministry of Tourism is anticipating an exponential increase in the number of travellers from India to Israel. The response received from these efforts has contributed to a 13% increase in tourism from India to Israel in 2016, setting a record for the highest number of tourist arrivals from India in a year - 44,672.The momentumhas continued into 2017:in January and February of 2017 there has been an increase of 16% over the same period last year.