FTV Israel

December 20, 2010 - 9:00 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, tv 

Will anyone admit to ever watching FTV (the Fashion Channel to those not in the know)? To be honest, I’ve only ever watched it while sitting in the chair at my former hairdresser, who has small screen TVs in front of each chair, presumably to stave off boredom while getting one’s hair cut (I always like to talk to my hairdresser).

But, it is still news to know that Israel’s Tourism Ministry recently launched an advertising campaign on said FTV, with the slogan, “Israel, it’s like magic.” The idea is that the Israeli tourism ‘product’ will be exposed to the broad FTV market, which reaches about 200 countries worldwide.

And so, in order to appeal to this particular market, NIS 3 million was spent on the ministry’s idea of what’s magical in Israel, from vineyards in the Carmel (bad timing, that one) and salt flats in the Dead Sea to the menorah in Jerusalem and Ramat Aviv Mall in Tel Aviv. I’m not saying they’re wrong, but well, take a look at one of them for yourself:

And don’t pay too much attention to their spelling…it’s kind of embarrassing.

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Miners for Xmas

October 18, 2010 - 7:57 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: education, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, News, Religion, Travel 

With every other country and organization doing their bit to welcome the Chilean miners back to the world, including iPods from Apple, sunglasses from Oakley, and invites from soccer teams, Israel’s Tourism Ministry wanted to contribute their piece as well. And so, they’ve invited the miners and their wives to visit the Holy Land on a spiritual journey this Christmas, in order to give special prayers of thanks for their rescue. Their trip, natch, will include sightseeing of various sites that are holy to Christianity.

In his invitation, Minister Misezhnikov wrote: “Your bravery and strength of spirit, your great faith that helped you survive so long in the bowels of the earth, was an inspiration to us all. It would be a great honor for us to welcome you as our guests in the Holy Land. This December, Christians around the world – and here in the Land of Jesus – will celebrate Christmas. During that time, we welcome tens of thousands of pilgrims and we would be pleased to offer you this uplifting and extraordinary experience, as our guests.”

Working with the hotels, airlines and holy sites, the ministry invite includes flights, rooms and full board for five to seven days. Not bad for the peak season of Christmas. Having just finished updating the hotels. restaurants, cafes and nightlife section for the Fodor’s guidebook 2011, I’m wondering where the ministry is planning on hosting the miners. The American Colony in East Jerusalem is lovely, but pricey at $430 for a standard double room during high season. The Ambassador or Addar hotels are more affordable at $200 and $180 per room, while the much simpler Lutheran Guesthouse is much cheaper at $120 a night.

But no matter. Whatever the choice, I’m sure it will be welcoming and comfortable, as Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov stated that the ministry wants to turn Christian tourists into tourism ambassadors for Israel back home. After all, pilgrimage, according to ministry figures, represents one third of incoming tourist to Israel. 2008 was still the record year, with Christian pilgrims accounting for 62% of the three million tourists, and in 2009, some 58% were pilgrims.

Why shouldn’t we include the 33 miners in the figures for 2010?

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Navigating Israel on the iPhone

October 7, 2010 - 8:26 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Technology, Travel 

Israel’s Tourism Ministry is making great efforts to join the 21st century – the latest attempt being a pretty cool one.

The launch of a new iPhone application finds the user’s location and let them receive fast, updated information on sites, tours and events in the immediate area. According to a press release put out by the ministry, the app – named iSrael – can be downloaded for free from the Apple Appstore.

While currently available in English and Hebrew, there are plans to expand the app to Russian, German and French. In the meantime, there’s a plethora of information available, listed under themes like archeology and history, nature and animals, holy places, national sites and parks and gardens.

Clicking on a site opens a new page, which provides a photo and a description of the site as well as helpful information like contact details, hours of operation, a map of the area, a precise address and a link to the attraction’s website. There’s also a section for hikes and tours called ‘Tracks’ which is divided into hiking tours, bicycle tours, vehicle tours and tours for people with disabilities.

You can also find hotels and other accomodations through the application, including details like kashrut standard, suitability for young children or pets and maps.

And, as an extra attraction, users can upload their own photographs and comments to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in real time through the application.

Jerusalem Post resident techie David Shamah praised the iSrael application for its nice interface, and offered some tips for the future:

There are a number of blank sections in the database, such as lists of restaurants, recommended tours outside the center of the country and other details, but one can assume they will be filled in over the coming days and sent on to those who downloaded the app.

Currently, you can click on a phone number or e-mail address to make a call or send a message to a hotel, organization or other group featured in the listing you’ve been reading; hopefully the app will provide maps and driving directions to the sites included in the app, taking advantage of the tight integration of the iPhone platform.

Now if we could just get the taxi drivers to start behaving in a civil manner…

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Tourists flocking to Israel

July 15, 2010 - 8:40 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Holidays, Life, Travel 

Despite the tensions with Hizbullah in the North, Hamas in the South, and flotillas, boycotts and the World Cup, tourists are once again flocking to Israel.

According to figures released by the Tourism Ministry this week, some 1.6 million people visited Israel between January and July, – an increase of 39 percent over the same period in 2009, and 10% more than in 2008, the country’s previous record year.

The ministry figures also showed record-breaking numbers for June, with 259,000 tourists visiting in that month, an increase of 24% over June 2009 and 8% over 2008.

According to Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov, it’s an aggressive marketing campaign by his ministry which is prompting travellers to choose Israel as a vacation destination. That effort has also increased the number of users of the ministry’s Web site – in the first half of 2010, more than 2.7 million users from over 220 countries entered the Web site – an increase of 30% over the same period last year and double the number for January-June 2008.

Travel professionals are also taking note of the treasures Israel has to offer. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv topped tourism magazine Travel and Leisure’s recent readers’ poll of the ten best cities in Africa and the Middle East. Jerusalem ranked as the best city and Tel Aviv was in third place, with only Cape Town, South Africa between them.

It’s likely that the combination of incoming tourists and the fact that Turkey has more or less dried up entirely as a vacation destination for Israelis has resulted in soaring hotel rates and few vacancies anywhere in the country this summer. It was so much more pleasant when we were ostracized.

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Where’s Rahm? Emanuel stays a step ahead of protesters

May 25, 2010 - 9:10 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Travel 

Rahm Emanuel, left, with a waiter at the Boston restaurant in Eilat. (Photo: Meir Ohayon/Yediot)

The second most powerful man in the US is currently visiting Israel – no not Vice President Joe Biden, who’s last visit here most Israelis cringe at remembering due to the embarrassing flap over the announcement of the Ramat Shlomo building plan, but White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Despite threats of protest by the right wing fringe in Israel, Emanuel and his family arrived here over the weekend to celebrate his son’s bar mitzvah. But because of the specter of angry demonstrations, details of the event have been kept under wraps, and in the meantime Emanuel and family have been enjoying themselves in Eilat and Tel Aviv.

“We are having a great time in Israel, we are really enjoying ourselves and the people are excellent,” Emanuel, dressed in shorts, told the Channel 2 news last night.

The speculation is that the bar mitzvah will take place on Thursday morning in Jerusalem’s Old City, perhaps at Robinson’s Arch, south of the Kotel, where egalitarian ceremonies conducted by the Masorti (Conservative) Movement take place. However, a representative of the movement told me that the Emanuel family is not scheduled for an event there this week, and Rabbi Andrew Sacks, who regularly conducts bar mitzvas there refused to indulge any information.

Those hoping to catch a glimpse of Emanuel Monday during a rumored visit to the Western Wall were disappointed. According to The Jerusalem Post, reporters, photographers and at least one would-be protester were camped out during the day.

Having no Rahm Emanuel to protest in the flesh, right-wing opponents of the Obama adminstration’s stance on Israel have taken on other means to show their dissatisfaction with Emanuel’s visit here.

National Union MK Michael Ben-Ari wrote a letter this week to Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein complaining about taxpayer funds being used to pay for an Emanuel entourage non-kosher meal in Eilat and asking him to send the bill to Emanuel’s home. This followed a report in Yediot Aharonot that a Tourism Ministry official paid for the Emanuel family’s meal at Eilat’s non-kosher Boston restaurant on Friday. The report said the Emanuels ate cheviche, calamari and other seafood

However, according to the Tourism Ministry, they did not pay for the meal. “Our representative did not eat with them. We bring thousands of people to Israel. Our official events are kosher but when people are on their own we don’t pick at their plates or make sure they eat all their meals at the Knesset cafeteria,” a ministry official told The Jerusalem Post.

Despite the controversy and the cat and mouse games, Emanuel is still evidently having a good vacation. “We are having a great time in Israel, we are really enjoying ourselves and the people are excellent,” Emanuel, dressed in shorts, told a TV reporter last night.

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