THEISRAELGovernment Tourist Office claims it is having to spend ú250,000 advertising Eilat this month in order to counter bad publicity following air strikes on Iraq.
UKdirector Eliezer Hod said normally, IGTO would not spend anything on promoting Eilat at this time of year, the peak season for Britons to visit the destination.
He blamed the Foreign Office and Thomson for giving Israel a bad image during the attacks, which have led to a fall-off in bookings.
The Foreign Office warned against all non-essential travel to Israel for a period of around 10 days in December, while Thomson evacuated 600customers during the air strikes, and has since cancelledthe remainder of its winterprogramme.
“We are extremely upset by the Foreign Office advice,” said Hod.
“It was extremely unfair. It should have spoken about the separate parts of Israel, because Eilat is completely out of range of missiles from Iraq.
“Also, the Foreign Office didn’t say anything about Egypt or Jordan, which have tourist sites very close to Eilat.”
Thomson said it had cancelled its programme to Israel because the vast majority of customers with bookings over the next few months had opted to cancel or take an alternative holiday. The move has affected 3,000 Thomson clients.
The Foreign Office’s current advice to travellers to Israel is to keep in touch with any developments while there.
A First Choice spokeswoman said it initially suspended its programme, but resumed selling it on January 3.