Foto Friday – Visit Israel the Virtual Way

March 27, 2009 - 8:28 AM by Rachel Neiman · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Travel 

“Snob! Have you been to Tiberias yet?” The late great Israeli humorist Ephraim Kishon quipped that those words were scrawled across the Acropolis, chastising those Israelis who preferred to travel abroad rather than tour their own fair country. Today, fortunately, Israelis — and anyone else for that matter — can sit in the air-conditioned comfort of their Athens hotel and visit the sites of Israel in full color — thanks to a new feature on the Ministry of Tourism website: the Virtual Tour of Israel. The new multimedia experience includes 100 videos, 130 panoramic views and dozens of photographs. Here’s a classic:

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Ten virtual, ten-day tours are available online, including: general interest itineraries, Jewish interest, Christian interest, Culture and History, Nature, Family, Archeology, Active interest, Mobility challenged and — last but certainly not least — Food and Wine.

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Sites that can be visited include Caesarea… Jerusalem… Mitzpe Ramon… the Dead Sea…

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The Bauhaus architecture of Tel Aviv …

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Here’s Tiberias – we are not snobs!

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The Haifa Port, where my running club, the Holyland Hash House Harriers, will be running this weekend with 40 sailors on shore leave!

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By the way, the Ministry of Tourism website is available in 11 languages and is updated on an ongoing basis.

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A Big Plate of Hummus, Mud Massage and Happy Hour Everyday, it’s Good to be a Tourist in Israel

November 6, 2008 - 12:16 PM by Molly · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Food, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Travel 

While it is technically the beginning of the Jewish New Year, it is also the end of the holiday season. And that means it is the end of tourist season. And while I can’t say that I miss the tourists, it does hurt our economy when they’re not around. But not to worry because the Ministry of Tourism has got our back, and they have figured out a way to bring the next batch of picture-taking, money spending, falafel eating, dead sea swimming, tourists to Israel.

guiness-record-hummus.jpgTheir plan is simple: The World Travel Market Fair. What exactly is this, you ask. Well it’s only the second largest tourism fair in the world being held in London from November 10-14th. Countries are able to set up shop in a booth and try to entice potential travelers to their fantasy vacation. And if they didn’t know it already, their dream destination is Israel.

So how does the Ministry of Tourism make the Israel vacation getaway look like a cup of tea? How about the biggest plate of hummus in the world? That’s right, while we are being sued by Lebanon over who is the baby daddy of hummus (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1027016.html), the ministry is piling it on a plate in the hopes of brining new hungry tourists to the Holy Land.

Mud MassageFrom hummus to mud, the Israel exhibit will also feature Dead Sea mud treatments and massages for those indecisive (and truly lucky) fair goers. I feel that the potential tourist should be warned; while a trip to the Dead Sea in Israel has no admission fee, there is no such thing as a free mud massage. The closest you’ll get to that is your traveling buddy wiping the real stuff on your tummy while you float on your back and try to capture it in a picture.

If the massages won’t get the tourists here, then how about a free trip to Israel. Yep, the Israel stand will include a Happy Hour every day of the fair where they will raffle off trips to Israel. That’s right; we plan to get these fair goers buzzed on beer in order to get them buzzed on Israel. There will of course be entertainment at the booth, including the Balbalu street theater company operating, “Israel-themed activities relating to, among others, the kibbutz, Eilat, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.” I put that in direct quotes because I still don’t understand what the ministry means. Are the actors going to act out kibbutz life, living in Jerusalem, and clubbing in Tel Aviv?

The Ministry of Tourism has made sure to bring along an additional 50 commercial hotel chains, airline companies and tour operators to close the deal.

Now, I don’t claim to be a tourism expert, but I have a few suggestions of my own. I say instead of actors bring the real people, the real taste of Israel. So, if the Ministry of Tourism is reading this, please feel free to steal my ideas!

People to Bring:

• At least two loud shuk vendors with their fruits and vegetables sans half-dead fish (make sure to sample food)

• Israeli soldiers in uniform (everyone loves a man or woman in uniform. It’s hot. Minus the gun.)

• The Israeli Jewish mama that will sit you down and stuff you until your buttons pop (there’s more than just hummus)

• Tel Aviv clubbers that will help you dance off the calories or just make room for more (you’ll need a lot of energy for this)

Do you have an idea to add to this list? Share them and be heard or at least let the Ministry of Tourism know what else they should put on the plate besides hummus!

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Sino wave

September 22, 2008 - 7:32 PM by Harry · 6 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Travel 

A Chinese tourist in Jerusalem's Old CityMuch is constantly being written about how tourism to Israel is on the rise, but nearly all of the hoopla focuses on the Western European and North American markets. East Asians in Israel are usually here as foreign laborers, but a recent report by China View cites a growing trend of Chinese tourists to Israel.

Officials at the Israeli Ministry of Tourism ought to be drooling over this potential, given that the Chinese populace is currently estimated to be numbered at well over 1.3 individuals. So far, 2008 has shown a 45% increase in Chinese tourist arrivals here, and Israeli officials are aiming for a grand total of 15,000 Chinese visitors by the end of December.

It’s estimated that about 50 million Chinese tour in Israel’s neck of the woods, but very few of these actually make it to Israel. “We need to prepare to absorb some of that,” Israeli Tourism Minister Ruhama Avraham-Balila announced at a press conference in China in early September.

The Chinese government has approved Israel as an acceptable destination for its citizens, paving the way for the first-ever organized Chinese tour group, of 80 people, to land later this week. China Air is also supposedly looking into the feasibility of launching a regular flight route between the two countries.

And the list of progress fronts on the bureaucratic level goes on….

The preparations to receive the Chinese tourist and adapt the tourism product to meet their particular needs include training Chinese-speaking tour guides, chefs in hotel restaurants, recruiting Chinese-speaking employees in the hotel and tourism industries, translating informational material, maps, brochures into Chinese, as well as providing courses to employees in the tourism industry on the unique aspects of Chinese culture.

Image courtesy Yuen-Ping aka YP from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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Value of the Pink Dollar

August 27, 2008 - 7:43 AM by Harry · 2 Comments
Filed under: Business, General, History and Culture, Life, Travel 

Tel Aviv's Love ParadeJust over a year ago, USA Today estimated the American gay tourism market to be worth $55 billion in annual revenues.

The newspaper cited a series of ads run by the city of Philadelphia, in which the tagline “Get your history straight and your nightlife gay” raked in profits 153 times larger than the cost of the campaign. Similar tactics have raised eyebrows in places like Dallas and South Carolina, where the local culture might not be as alternative lifestyle-friendly as tourist bureau marketing executives might have mass media audiences think.

With its annual Love Parades and open nightlife scene providing an international draw, Tel Aviv has also emerged as a major gay tourism destination, a trend which has informed marketing outreach efforts, even if the city did end up losing out on its bid to host the 2009 EuroPride event as part of its centennial celebrations.

The Christian Science Monitor recently pointed out some of the nuances involved with marketing the Holy Land to a community whose lifestyle is still seen by many to be nothing but sinful:

Shai Doitsh, head of the gay tourism department at Agudah, Israel’s Association of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexuals, and Transgenders, says that thousands of gay tourists – both independent and groups – have come to Israel this year, infusing the economy with millions of so-called “pink dollars.” Five years ago, the numbers were in the hundreds. A decade ago there was virtually no market at all, he says.

But David Katz, a travel agent with Sar-El Tours in Jerusalem, whose main clients are religious pilgrims, points out that evangelical Christians make up the single largest group of tourists to the country, followed by Jewish interest tourists.

According to Ministry of Tourism statistics, some 44 percent of the 2.3 million tourists who came to Israel last year were religious Christians of different denominations. Highlighting “gay tourism,” says Mr. Katz, could easily unsettle some of the many visitors coming to experience the “land of the Bible.”

“Dealing with gay tourism has to be done in an intelligent and sensitive way,” says Yaniv Poria, a professor in the department of hotel and tourism management at Ben Gurion University in the Negev region and an expert on the subject. “It is wanted – it’s just tricky. Like so many things in Israel.”

Maybe Bruno’s recent visit here will open people’s eyes a bit – or at least make a lot more of us ashamed.

Image courtesy of ehud from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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