Israel: H.E. Yariv Levin - Minister of Tourism of the State of Israel

In an exclusive interview with Globus Vision, H.E. Yariv Levin - Minister of Tourism of the National of Israel, expands on the attractiveness of the country to visitors from all over the world and the need to cooperate with other nations in order to increase the much needed number of visitors.

Can you tell us about tourism in Israel?

Initial of all, I will make an introduction. We are building a huge center in Beer Sheva, which has by presently become one of the majority significant centers in the world.

We have a lot of companies there in all of the aspects of innovation. The second thing is gas and energy. One of the things Israel has at no time had was oil and energy, and we have a lot of problems with it because we cannot buy those things from our neighbors because they boycott us.

It was very expensive to import it from very far away. We started to import. Presently, for the initial time, we are completely independent, and we are starting to export gas, which is a huge change, something unbelievable.

It became an opportunity to do a lot of significant things. For instance, we have very significant cooperation from Cyprus. We are trying to construct the pipes and take the gas and again send it to Europe.

There are a lot of interesting things going on. It makes us independent. I believe that there is a good luck to find even oil because according to what I know, and what I read, and what I see from various reports, the problem that it is very deep.

So it takes additional time. In the end, there are good chances to get to that point. Since we dreamt about coming back to our homeland, it would be like a miracle.

Our knowledge plus our power allow us to do almost anything in that aspect.

Tourism in Israel is the two aspects that I talked about before is much behind. I think Israel until presently has not invested real money and real efforts in promoting tourism.

We have the best product one can think about. From archeology to the religious side, inclunding beaches, views, well heritage places, and people, everything.

There are people here in Israel who know a lot of languages, and really welcome tourists. We have a very open society. What surprises a lot of people is that this is a very safe place for tourists.

I think it is one of the places where you can really go without any fear, you can go out at any time at night. If you compare all these advantages to the number of tourists that we have, it is really unbelievable.

I had a conference with the Minister of Justice from Spain, and he asked me how a lot of tourists we have, he made that question in Spanish.

I answered his question, and he asked me again in English because he thought I had not understood, because it is unbelievable. The numbers are ridiculous.

I think we have certain things we should change in order to do it differently. And I think that there is a lot of potential.

The potential is huge, and we can make a change in completely a short period. I do not think we need a lot of time to do major changes that will change this picture completely.

Initial of all, it is marketing. I think that we should put additional marketing, we should do it with new tools, with new thinking. We are going to invest much additional in media through the Internet, what we have not done almost at all until presently.

We are presently building a model of cooperation between the industry and the Ministry, with flying companies, with hotels, with hostels, with all the municipalities, and with all partners in order to work together.

What has been done so far was to make a publication in Germany, flights from Italy, and try to sell hotels in Ukraine. What we are presently trying to do is to make all of these things work together, and do it online instantly.

If you have blank places, that is the right place for marketing. That is the way to change current situation. Other problem is that we do not have enough hotels. In that aspect, there is a large change for investors to do some things that will be very profitable and not in the long term.

In Israel, the number of hotel rooms is something around 50,000 rooms, and it has been the same for fifteen years. There has almost been no change. We have few two and three-star hotels.

It is almost impossible to find them, and we have increase and ongoing increase of local flights into Israel, particularly from Europe. So we have local flights in fifty or a hundred dollars a flight.

And again they have to pay five hundred dollars for the hotel. So it does not match. What we are doing presently is to finance projects for new hotels.

And presently, we are putting most of the money we have to help entrepreneurs build two and three-star hotels, particularly those which take buildings that are used as offices because it is shorter, and it costs less, so for two and three-star hotels, it will be profitable.

Otherwise, building it from scratch is expensive. We will invest in hostels as well, because I believe that if young people does not have enough money but come to Israel and see the country, again maybe in their honey moon, they will come again, and they come to a hotel this time.

In the end, it is good for everyone. A lot of people want to feel the experience of feeling how it is really like to live here. I think that has a great potential.

I think we should cooperate with other nations. For instance, I think that we have a lot of potential to cooperate with Italy by building joint packages of Rome and Jerusalem, inclunding archeology here and there.

It is particularly significant to look to markets that are far from here to, whether it is the Far East or the United States. If we do it properly, it can open new horizons in that aspect.

What is additional, is that we are going to emphasize our marketing efforts in the Far East, in China, but as well India. There was a change in the relations between Israel and India.

It is a complete change in such aspect. The Prime Minister of India is going approaching here for a visit. We have presently a lot of cooperation with India in various fields.

We are going to make a real effort in marketing in India, and in China. In the Philippines, there is really a luck to make a game.

What we are trying to do presently is to buy together four pieces of land in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, etc. in order to market them together and make a huge hotel chain that specializes in the Far East, appropriate standards, appropriate food, etc.

So we will build a chain of hotels here in Israel that will be adapted to the Far East needs. There is marketing power there to bring people. We are working very hard in bringing to Israel new airlines.

I think that is a basic thing, because you cannot come at the same time as you do not have a way to fly or at the same time as you have to do a lot of connections. We are paying 45 euros for each tourist in the Winter time, for each seat.

There was a jump from six flights each week in the previous Winter to twenty five that will come next month. We are thinking about spreading it in a way that will really help those companies approaching and feel safe.

We will as well give them the money for marketing, and cooperate with them so that they feel they are on a stable ground and can really work it for longer times.

What is as well significant is the issue of health for tourism. We have two things: an excellent system with the best doctors, hospitals, etc., and something incomparable, which is the Dead Sea, specially for certain diseases, and it has a very good impact.

What we are trying to do presently is working to make this organized with licenses with the companies that will bring those tourists who come and receive all the medical care. It has huge potential, and it can be all year long.

It does not matter if it is rainy or hot. They can come all year long. They usually come additional than once because they come for their treatment, and again for checks.

The potential is very huge. We have a small industry, but I think we can expand it much additional. Of course we are still working with our traditional markets, which are people from catholic communities worldwide.

I think that even here, the potential is huge. We are building a new Internet website with applications for iPhones. We want people to look at it from their houses and understand exactly what we can do here.

The inventory is very long, but it reflects the potential vs. the current situation, which is very low. I think that it can be a boost.

What will be your major strategy in the coming years to carry on attracting tourists from the USA?

I think we should make contact due with those people who have a appropriate interest in coming here, whether they are catholic or people who come for medical treatment.

I think that, particularly in the USA, this should be the major emphasis. It is significant to have certain offices in the USA, but I think we should put additional emphasis in working with communities rather than geographically.

It is not Los Angeles, it is a catholic priest within a community, for example, or a Jewish community. Presently, we are working on a appropriate project that will bring Jewish children.

We have something that is called Bar Mitzvah, which is a celebration of being an adult at the same time as you come to the age of thirteen. They do it and receive a certificate and of course, they will do some excursions around Jerusalem and around the country.

The USA is huge, and with the budget that we have, it is impossible to cover it all. That is what we are trying to focus on, our strong point and the communities and people that are related to it.

And I think the potential is huge. We need additional flights to Israel from the United States. There are a lot of, but it is still not enough. Even from New York, in certain times it is impossible to find a seat.

Again, there is a lot of potential.