DRMumbai: Israel, for the second consecutive year, has logged a record footfall of Indian tourists with 60,000 vacationers visiting the country in 2017, taking the growth rate to an all-time high of 31 per cent between January to December. This marks a whopping jump of 48 per cent in the last two years, as per the data released by the Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT). Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism India & Philippines said, “Last year was outstanding and by far has been the best year for Israel tourism. As early as October 2017, around 49,000 Indians had arrived in Israel, breaking all previous records.
With over 20 million outbound tourists a year, India is a vital market for us and we have witnessed a steady rise in arrivals over the past four years.” “Introducing initiatives, including the easing of the visa process, and with airlines in India and Israel expressing interest to improve connectivity between the countries, I am confident that this growth will help us hit the 1 lakh mark in 2018.” The ministries of Tourism and Foreign Affairs will continue to introduce reforms, including relaxing visa requirements for those who have travelled to Schengen countries, the US, Canada, Australia or Israel, and express visa services through VFS. The growing bonhomie between both Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Narendra Modi- evident from Modi’s historic visit to Israel- has helped boost relations between both countries. During his visit to Mumbai Netanyahu hosted a ‘Shalom Bollywood’ gala dinner, which was attended by the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar, where he extended an open invitation to Indian filmmakers to shoot in the beautiful locales of Israel, which recently witnessed its first ever Bollywood collaboration;
The Ministry of Tourism partnered with Dharma Productions to shoot a song in Tel Aviv and Jaffa for their upcoming movie ‘Drive’ starring Jacqueline Fernandez and Sushant Singh Rajput. In 2017, Bollywood filmmakers Imtiaz Ali and Vishesh Bhatt, along with a few others, also visited the country to explore co-production possibilities while Ali Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor and Ayan Mukherjee visited Israel to begin preparations for their upcoming movie.
Israel’s national airline El Al recently announced a hike in its direct flight frequency between India and Israel. Air India and Arkia have also expressed interest to begin operations soon and introduce direct flights between Israel and India.
