Israel being marketed with NIS 34 million budget
Tourism Ministry launches ad campaign series in US, Europe meant to vie for hearts of tourists world wide to come to visit tiny Middle Eastern country. With NIS 34 million budget, is this way to bring tourists to Israel?
"The Tourism Ministry will increase its marketing setup in the world in the coming months through an overall investment of more than NIS 34 million (about $9.1 million) in order to leverage the positive incoming tourism seen in recent months and to position Israel as an attractive tourist destination," reported the ministry, under the leadership of Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov.
The Tourism Ministry's objective is to reach 1.5 million incoming tourists in the summer of 2010 (from May to September) as part of a three-year plan in which aims to attract an additional million tourists to Israel by 2012.
To this end, the Tourism Ministry is currently launching a series of ad campaigns that will be run for the next three months in the main countries from which tourists travel to Israel: the US, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, England, Sweden, and Holland. The ads will depict Israel as an attractive and diverse destination as part of the competition between the region's countries for the heart of the tourist seeking to travel to the Middle East.
From wine and culinary tourism to extreme sports
The ad campaigns will present Israel for its range of vacation, recreation, and party options offered along with its positioning as "the Holy Land with Jerusalem in its center." The ads focus on the tourist audience seeking out religion, history, and culture.
The campaigns will focus on marketing sites in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, and Eilat, as well as other sites in the Negev and the Galilee. The campaigns will target various audiences. In addition to the religious crowd interested in the religious sites Israel has to offer, the campaign will also turn to niche tourism, such as wine, culinary, spa, and extreme sport tourism.
Previous Tourism Ministry campaign. Goal: 1.5 million tourists
The campaigns will be published in written media, outdoor media, radio, television, and will make wide use of internet sites and social media. In addition, they will also be published in tourism magazines to court professionals working in the tourism industry.
The ad campaigns will be accompanied by intensive marketing activity with local marketing industries in the target countries. These activities will include recruiting new wholesalers, expanding the database of marketers promoting Israel, holding seminars and ground operations with travel agents and decision makers (such as priests and leaders), public relations activities, as well as work with aviation officials to examine the possibilities of opening additional routes to Israel and expanding existing ones.
Ad from 2010 campaign promoting Tel Aviv
"The comeback witnessed in Israel's incoming tourism in recent months was among the speediest in the Israeli economy and contributed to the country's income and created new jobs," reported Misezhnikov.
"In order to meet the challenges presented by the ministry of bringing 3.3 million tourists to Israel in 2010 and four million by 2012 and to contend with the intense competition with the countries in the region, massive sums have been invested in tourism development, infrastructure, and marketing. The marketing budget must be increased significantly in the next two years," Misezhnikov explained.
Worn-out, but pricey attractions
However, the question must be asked whether it is within the power of these Tourism Ministry advertising initiatives that make an appearance from year to year to bring millions of tourists to Israel, especially when Israel's bastions of tourism, mainly Eilat, are not amenable to tourists when they are faced with worn-out facilities coupled with sky-high hotel prices?
For instance, just a few kilometers from Eilat is the city of Aqaba in Jordan, which is developing nicely with the investment of billions of dollars into a true tourist gem and offers comfortable prices for every budget. Regular flights will even be operated between Eilat and Aqaba starting next month.
