ISRAEL’s promotional strategy is set to change following the appointment of a new UKtourist office director.
Amnon Lipzin took over from Eliezer Hod as head of the Israel Government Tourist Office in London in August and is keen to put more emphasis on selling Israel as a fun destination.
“The religious and historical aspects have previously been promoted too heavily in the UK,” said Lipzin, who has worked for the Ministry of Tourism in Jerusalem for 27 years and twice headed the tourist office in Chicago.
“I want to focus attention on the lighter side of Israel – the sun, sea and entertainment. I want to position it as an eastern Mediterranean country offering visitors a fun beach holiday, but also with historical heritage.”
His first advertising campaign for the UK since taking over at the London office underlines his new philosophy. The campaign, which is presently being launched with a budget of £250,000, focuses on the Red Sea beach resort of Eilat and the health and beauty spa hotels at the Dead Sea.
However, it does also mention Jerusalem and the millennium. “It is important we do not forget that Israel is the official destination of the millennium,” said Lipzin.
IGTO is also working with Tel Aviv’s tourist authority and hotel association to produce a brochure highlighting the attractions of Israel’s second city. It is due to be distributed to UK agents this autumn.
“Tel Aviv is the largest beach resort on the Med, has good weather even in winter, a lot of entertainment and many top hotels. It is important agents know more about it,” said Lipzin.
To make sure the retail sector knows more about Israel generally, he is continuing the agent roadshows that IGTO has been running for the past three years in conjunction with specialist Israel tour operators including Longwood Holidays, Superstar and Peltours, and hotel groups with representation in the UK.
The next series will be from October 11-21 and visit West London, Luton, Egham, Southampton, Bristol, Dartford, Gatwick and East London.
There will also be major promotional activity at World Travel Market. This will capitalise on the positive publicity Israel has enjoyed since the new government came to power in the summer and immediately began talking of achieving peace with all its neighbours.
“We will have representatives from all areas of tourism in Israel at WTM as well as welcoming the new tourism minister, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak,” said Lipzin.
“Tourism is the natural product that comes out of peace. We see this everywhere. When there were talks before between the Israelis and Palestinians we saw a peace dividend, but it will be bigger this time as Syria could be involved.
“It will not happen tomorrow, but I believe it will be in time for the millennium year.”
Despite his optimism, the tourism ministry has scaled back its prediction for visitor numbers in 2000 from 4m to a maximum 3.5m. Lipzin hopes 300,000 of those will be package holidaymakers from the UK – up from this year’s expected 220,000. An additional 70,000 visitors a year arrive on cruises.
By downsizing its forecast, the ministry is accepting that damage was done last winter when Thomson evacuated its clients from Eilat because the Foreign Office advised against travel to the region for fear of renewed conflict in the Gulf.
“We have been paying the price of the Gulf crisis this year,” said Lipzin.
ISRAEL’s promotional strategy is set to change following the appointment of a new UKtourist office director.
Amnon Lipzin took over from Eliezer Hod as head of the Israel Government Tourist Office in London in August and is keen to put more emphasis on selling Israel as a fun destination.
“The religious and historical aspects have previously been promoted too heavily in the UK,” said Lipzin, who has worked for the Ministry of Tourism in Jerusalem for 27 years and twice headed the tourist office in Chicago.
“I want to focus attention on the lighter side of Israel – the sun, sea and entertainment. I want to position it as an eastern Mediterranean country offering visitors a fun beach holiday, but also with historical heritage.”
His first advertising campaign for the UK since taking over at the London office underlines his new philosophy. The campaign, which is presently being launched with a budget of £250,000, focuses on the Red Sea beach resort of Eilat and the health and beauty spa hotels at the Dead Sea.
However, it does also mention Jerusalem and the millennium. “It is important we do not forget that Israel is the official destination of the millennium,” said Lipzin.
IGTO is also working with Tel Aviv’s tourist authority and hotel association to produce a brochure highlighting the attractions of Israel’s second city. It is due to be distributed to UK agents this autumn.
“Tel Aviv is the largest beach resort on the Med, has good weather even in winter, a lot of entertainment and many top hotels. It is important agents know more about it,” said Lipzin.
To make sure the retail sector knows more about Israel generally, he is continuing the agent roadshows that IGTO has been running for the past three years in conjunction with specialist Israel tour operators including Longwood Holidays, Superstar and Peltours, and hotel groups with representation in the UK.
The next series will be from October 11-21 and visit West London, Luton, Egham, Southampton, Bristol, Dartford, Gatwick and East London.
There will also be major promotional activity at World Travel Market. This will capitalise on the positive publicity Israel has enjoyed since the new government came to power in the summer and immediately began talking of achieving peace with all its neighbours.
“We will have representatives from all areas of tourism in Israel at WTM as well as welcoming the new tourism minister, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak,” said Lipzin.
“Tourism is the natural product that comes out of peace. We see this everywhere. When there were talks before between the Israelis and Palestinians we saw a peace dividend, but it will be bigger this time as Syria could be involved.
“It will not happen tomorrow, but I believe it will be in time for the millennium year.”
Despite his optimism, the tourism ministry has scaled back its prediction for visitor numbers in 2000 from 4m to a maximum 3.5m. Lipzin hopes 300,000 of those will be package holidaymakers from the UK – up from this year’s expected 220,000. An additional 70,000 visitors a year arrive on cruises.
By downsizing its forecast, the ministry is accepting that damage was done last winter when Thomson evacuated its clients from Eilat because the Foreign Office advised against travel to the region for fear of renewed conflict in the Gulf.
“We have been paying the price of the Gulf crisis this year,” said Lipzin.
The IGTO can be contacted on:
Israel Government Tourist Office,180 Oxford Street, London W1N 9DJ.
Tel: 020 7299 1111.
Fax: 020 7299 1112.
E-mail: igto-uk@dircon.co.uk
Web site: http://www.travelnet.co.il
l Flight availability: there are direct scheduled flights from the UK to both Tel Aviv and Eilat in winter, so you can fly into one resort and leave from another. Charter operators also fly to both Tel Aviv and Eilat.
l Flying time: flying time to Eilat is 5hrs so in a short time you can be basking in winter sun temperatures in the mid-20Cs in January. The resort offers excellent scuba diving and you can go snorkelling with the dolphins.
l Hotel standards: hotels are modern, with top-quality facilities; food, hygiene and medical facilities are of a high standard; you don’t need inoculations to go to Israel.
l Sightseeing: Israel is small, about the same size as Wales, so you can visit all the main sights in a week, either on a flydrive or by taking an escorted tour.