Open Jaw :: On The Town ::

with Martha Chapman
22SEP08

Oren Drori of the Israel Ministry of Tourism in Jerusalem

Oded Grofman, Consul and Director for Canada of the Israel Government Tourist Office

Israel – Who Knew?

What do a cowboy, a ballerina, and a tweenage tourist with her happy parents have in common?

They are all part of the modern landscape of Israel. And part of an ad campaign which for the first time in the young country’s history is targeting mainstream tourists.

“Of course the traditional tourist – Jews and evangelical Christians – will always be a very important target audience for us, but we want to show people that we have something surprising, something you don’t expect,” says Oren Drori, deputy director general and head of marketing administration for the Israel Ministry of Tourism during a recent visit to Toronto.

Hence the ad campaign featuring the genuine Israeli cowboy. (Seriously! Hat, horse and all.) Plus the inclusion, for the first time, of Israel in non-religious tour operators’ brochures, such as Tour East. “We’re expanding beyond the ethnic operators, and in the past year have been picked up by some 20 tour operators – usually upscale FIT - in North America,” added Drori. “We are now a shelf product!”

Being in a brochure on a travel agency rack with such destinations as Italy and France positions Israel as a cultural destination, he pointed out. Not bad for a little country the size of Lake Ontario.

And guess what? It’s clearly working. Canadian visits are up to 75,000 this year (more if you add in Canadian residents who are travelling on non-Canadian passports), and overall the country has already seen over 200,000 more visitors this year than anticipated.

What can we say but congratulations – or as Drori would no doubt say: mazel tov!