Minister of Tourism, Stas Misezhnikov signed and agreement with French Minister of Tourism Frederic Lefebvre, a new tourism agreement between Israel and France that replaces the previous one dating back to 1989.

The new agreement is intended to improve cooperation between the countries, including mutual efforts to promote tourism, expert delegation exchanges, new anchors to promote French investors in the Israeli hotel industry, professional development information exchange and developing tourism service standards.

Misezhnikov also met with leaders of the Catholic and Evangelical Church in France, as well as leading tour operators and leaders of the Jewish community.

France is the third largest source country for incoming tourism, following the United States and Russia. Since the beginning of the year until September, there was a 2% increase in tourism traffic from France to Israel. The average expenditure of a French tourist in Israel is $1,172 per visit, while most of the tourists from France are Jewish (78%) and only a minority is Catholic (17%).

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)