Isrotel hotel in Eilat
Isrotel to fly French tourists to Eilat
Hotel chain, Sun D'Or airline to offer week-long vacation packages in Israeli resort town, including direct flights from Paris to Eilat and back
The Isrotel chain of hotels announced Thursday that starting Sunday, it would begin operating direct flights from Paris to Eilat.
Some 40 flights will take off during the winter season, until May 2009, and are expected to bring to Israel some 8,000 French tourists, who will spend a week-long vacation in the southern resort town.
The flights will be operated by the Sun D'Or airline, an El Al subsidiary company, under the name "Isrotel Sun Express", and are limited to customers who will purchase a package including a stay at an Isrotel hotel.
Every week the airline will operate one flight, while on tourist seasons – like Christmas, the New Year and Passover – two weekly flights will take off.
The flights will leave Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport every Sunday at 7:30 am, and will return to the French capital every Sunday at 2:40 pm.
Isrotel General Manager Raffi Sadeh expressed his hope this week that Eilat would not suffer from the economic crisis, noting that the upcoming month of November appears to be looking good.
"In November, 18 flights of tourists will arrive from abroad – four times more than last year. The series of direct flights from Paris will begin on Sunday, and we estimate that many tourists will also arrive from Russia and Poland. Of course we also hope the Israelis will keep on coming.
"But all this is true for the moment, for the immediate future. We cannot say what will happen throughout the winter, and we assume we will have more information when all the decisions makers in the companies end their holiday break."
