TravTalk India Online Magazine
This year Israel may cross the pre-COVID visitor numbers from India, thanks to the exceptional increase in air connectivity between the two countries. Sammy Yahia, Consul, Tourism Affairs, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India & Philippines, says they hope to cross the 1 lakh arrival mark from India this year and shares more exciting details.
Hazel Jain
Israel welcomed 75,000 tourists from India in 2019, which fell to 31,000 in 2022 starting May due to COVID-induced lockdowns. But this year, the destination may cross the pre-COVID visitor numbers, thanks to the exceptional increase in air connectivity.
Sammy Yahia, Consul, Tourism Affairs, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India & Philippines, says, “We are aiming to cross the 1,00,000 mark this year in terms of visitor arrivals this year. We will have two carriers flying directly from BOM-TLV, which will be EL AL airlines and Air India. It will be approximately a five-hour direct flight, three times a week. Moreover, Air India will be flying from BLR as well from October 2023. Arkia will also be resuming operations via Goa and Kochi directly to TLV, and Israir announced they want to start operations in India too. With this increase in air connectivity, tourism from India is expected to multiply.”
EL AL is set to resume non-stop flight services from Delhi and Mumbai to Israel from October 2023, after a three-year break. The overfly agreement with Saudi Arabia and Oman for Israeli airlines was recently finalised, allowing for a shorter flight duration of 5.5 hours for Mumbai and 6.5 hours for Delhi. The sales of flight tickets started in April 2023, and the price starts at $399 for Lite tickets. EL AL will operate four non-stop weekly flights from Mumbai to Israel on the Boeing 737 with Economy and Business service classes, and two non-stop weekly flights to Delhi on either the Boeing 787 or 777, both wide-bodied aircraft.
Shlomi Zafrani, Vice President, Commerce and International Affairs, EL AL, says, “We are excited to launch these new flight routes from India to Israel, which were made possible thanks to the overfly agreement with Oman. We anticipate there will be high demand for these flights due to vast business activity between the two countries, as well as constant growth in Indian tourism to Israel. Israel is a beloved vacation destination to the Indian people, whether it is a family trip or a group vacation.”
Air India has also increased number of flights to Israel from existing three daily flights per week to five daily flights per week starting March 26, 2023. In addition, it will be starting to operate direct flights on the sectors from Mumbai and Bengaluru by June and October, respectively.
Yahia says, “The new announcements from El Al and Air India will boost tourism from and to Israel. The new air corridor over Saudi Arabia and Oman is likely to stimulate growth in the aviation sector. The airlines from India will be able to offer more competitive prices and reduce the flying time to five hours direct flight making it easier for passengers to travel. The statistics speak for themselves; the January and February 2023 numbers are 24 per cent better than the 2019 numbers.”
Focus on metro cities
Yahia will focus on the metro cities, especially New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. “The minimum days recommended are five nights in Israel. Israel is a country of luxurious experience, hence the amount spent is totally depending on the choice of hotels and activities,” he says.
“Our focus for the India market is leisure and MICE. Wedding is still not yet a tapped market for the Indians. We will conduct virtual seminars, in-house presentations, and trade FAMs as we have adapted a more measurable approach,” he adds.
