The Tourism Ministry is getting ready for the fall-winter season by investing NIS 40 million in marketing Israel abroad as an attractive tourist location from September through December.The ministry stressed that this is not a response to political events in the region, but a previously planned publicity campaign as part of the ministry’s 2011 annual work plan, which has an overall budget of NIS 260 million.The 2011 fall-winter campaign includes advertising through billboards, print media, tourism magazines, radio and TV stations, web sites and social networks in ten countries: the US, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Scandinavian countries, as well as “new” countries that have expressed interest in Israeli tourism, such as Poland and Brazil.The campaign will present all the possibilities available for touring in Israel: recreational activities and leisure time, as well as showing Israel as the “Holy Land” with its plethora of religious, historical and cultural sites.The campaign will highlight sites in Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Tel Aviv and Eilat, as well as tourist areas in the Galilee and the Negev.var ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random() * 1e16);document.write('');The Tourism Ministry will work directly with local industries in the above-mentioned countries, including participating in fairs, seminars and the recruitment of new travel agencies, etc. Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov said on Sunday, “The fall season is the most attractive season for tourism in Israel, and Tourism Ministry’s offices around the world are working intensively to create more interest in visiting Israel. The stability of incoming tourism to Israel, despite the economic and political events in the region and in the world, is an important economic anchor that contributes to the country’s economy by bringing in revenue and by providing jobs.” According to Tourism Ministry statistics, from the beginning of the year through August, 2.2 million tourists have visited Israel – down 2% compared with the same period last year. However, revenue related to incoming tourism (not including flights) in the first half of the year rose 15% to NIS 8.2 billion, as compared to NIS 7.1 billion in the same period in the year before.
