Tourism Ministry presents: Pilgrims instead of models

New Minister Stas Misezhnikov hopes pope's visit will serve as catalyst for changing direction of tourism marketing to focus on Israel as Holy Land. 'Our neighbors have attractive women and beaches as well,' he says

Reuters | Published: 05.12.09, 13:05

Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov plans to use Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Israel to send Israeli tourism promotion in a new direction. Rather than attracting beach-goers as some of his predecessors did, Misezhnikov wants to target Catholic and Evangelical pilgrims as visitors to the Holy Land.

"Former tourism ministers were mistaken when they tried to market Israel as a vacation spot for those seeking attractive beaches and girls," said the new minister.

"Ministers who focused on pictures of or with models thought it would bring tourists to Israel. But their mistake was that our neighbors also have attractive women and beaches and we can't compete with them in terms of prices of vacation packages," he explained.

"What Israel needs to do is focus on what it has that others don't have, or in other words: the Holy Land. Israel is holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the focus of the tourism ministry today is to promote Israel as such," he said.

"I hope that the pope, who is visiting these days, will call on Catholic believers to come to Israel, and I intend to do all I can to encourage such visits. Additionally, the ministry intends to target evangelical communities around the world in order to increase their visits to Israel," he said.

Misezhnikov emphasized that there are hundreds of millions of Evangelical Christians who only need to be convinced to visit. "The Holy Land, and at its center Jerusalem, is the best tourist attraction we have, no competition," he said.

He added that there are many tourist packages that can be promoted based on this concept, listing among them "spa packages, biking trips, treks and tours," that could take place "along religious routes."

Twice the budget needed

Misezhnikov met on Friday with Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz in order to present his ministry's work proposal for a new promotional direction, which requires an almost two-fold increase in budget for the current year.

He requested that the existing budget of NIS 190 million (about $46.7 million) be increased to NIS 350 million (about $86 million) in 2009 and further increased to NIS 400 million (about $ 98.3 million) in 2010.

"I know there's a global economic crisis, but that's exactly the reason we need the money for marketing now. When the world gets out of this crisis, not too long from now, we need to be ready so we don't miss the train," he said.