The Israel Tourism Ministry recently launched its first major TV advertising campaign in India to promote incoming tourism to Israel, under the slogan: “On most vacations, you take a trip. But in Israel, you take a journey.” The visual elements of the campaign underline the unique and moving vacation experience that Israel has to offer – a rich mix of history, culture and a vibrant, contemporary lifestyle. The Tourism Ministry has tripled its marketing budget this year for the Indian market, one of the major emerging markets for incoming tourism to Israel.
The two-month campaign, with an investment of NIS 6 million, features a TV commercial, as well as advertisements and marketing content in leading travel and consumer print media, with a significant presence across social media. The TV campaign complements other marketing activity in social and digital media, travel trade promotions (such as the recent Road Show in Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai attended by 800 Indian travel agents) and hosting opinion-formers and decision-makers in Israel.
These include, among others, the hosting of Bollywood star and fashion icon Sonam Kapoor in May 2016, which included a photo-shoot on location in Israel for the June-July 2016 cover of Harpers Bazaar Bride India magazine and a documentary film about her visit. Other recent influential Indian opinion-formers hosted this year by the Israel Tourism Ministry include Indian journalist and author Aditi Mathur Kumar and Bollywood producer Tanuj Garg on a scouting mission for future productions.
In February 2015, the Travel Agents Federation of India held its annual conference in Jerusalem for the first time, and in March 2016, members of the Maharashtra Tour Operators Association visited Israel, exposing Israel’s varied tourism product to hundreds of travel trade professionals. Over 70% of Indians base their travel destination choice on the recommendation of their travel agent.
As part of the ongoing work of the Israel Tourism Ministry to adapt the tourism infrastructure to meet the needs of tourists from Asia in general and India in particular, the ministry hosted four Indian celebrity chefs in November 2015, who gave culinary workshops to hotel and restaurant chefs. Hotels in Israel are already offering Indian cuisine to their guests.
The Israel Government Tourist Office in Mumbai, which was officially opened last year by Tourism Ministry Director-General Amir Halevi, is headed by Hassan Madah.
Background:
Approximately 40,000 tourists visited Israel from India during 2015 (up 13% on 2014), and about 25,000 in Jan-July 2016 (up 6% on the same period last year). The Ministry of Tourism has set a target of 100,000 visitors from India by 2018, focusing its activity on attracting those tourists from the growing sector of middle-class Indians looking for vacation destinations far from their home country, as well as incentive and conference -related travel (MICE). This, in addition to the classic Indian Christian pilgrim tourism market.
The average tourist to Israel spends $2,208 on services in the country on a 10.3 average night stay. The Indian traveler spends $2,385 on an average stay of just 7.5 nights. 79% are first-time visitors to Israel. (Source: IMOT tourist satisfaction survey, Jan-June 2015).
El Al currently has three direct weekly flights in the summer and five in the winter months from Tel Aviv to Mumbai and the Tourism Ministry is in discussions with Indian airlines to increase seat capacity and thereby reduce prices by bringing Indian carriers into the route.
About 20 million Indians traveled overseas on vacation in 2015. This number is expected to double by 2020 to around 40-50 million. Israel is a potential choice destination for a growing sector of the market – Indians, who are mostly young, financially secure and looking for something extra and unique beyond favored destinations such as the United States and Europe.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin stated, “Breaking into the large Asian market – in particular China and India – is one of the main objectives set by the Tourism Ministry. The experiential campaign that we have launched in India has been adapted to the particular characteristics and taste of the Indian market. This is in addition to the innovative campaigns that we are launching in China. I am sure that the significant marketing activity we are doing in China and India will lead to an increase in the numbers of incoming tourists from these destinations.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
This is a smart move and highlights the growing linkages between EY and India under PM Modi’s leadership. The new nationalistic Hindu party government led by Modi is increasingly anti-Pakistan/anti Islamic and welcomes EY’s high tech industry linkages with those of India. Many Israelis have visited India/Tibet and there is much greater awareness of security concerns post-Mumbai attacks.