The biggest problems facing Israel’s tourism industry are its image and a lack of knowledge about the country, according to minister Stas Misezhnikov.
Misezhnikov said he believed the potential for growth in numbers from the UK was enormous but these hurdles must be overcome to achieve this.
He added: “There is a lack of knowledge about what there is in Israel and for many people it is not on top of their minds.
“We have done extensive research into the desires of UK travellers and the things they want, such as beach, city breaks, exotic locations, culture, history and luxury, and we have them all.
“We want to target specific groups and promote the various aspects of Israel and in doing so have a bigger share of the British market.”
Britain is Israel’s fourth biggest feeder country with approximately 176,000 Brits expected to have travelled there by the end of the year.
The country has targeted a 5% rise in 2013, increasing to 200,000 by the end of 2014.
Last year was a record for total arrivals, with 3.5m tourists visiting the country. That figure is expected to grow to 3.7m in 2012.
Misezhnikov believes this can be achieved through extensive fam trips by agents, operators and journalists and by subsidising promotional activity to share the risk.
“By getting people to Israel we can show them that the image unfairly portrayed by some media is wrong. It is a bright and diverse place with lovely people and everyone that comes realises this.”