Israel is looking to enhance people-to-people contact with India by hardselling itself as a holistic tourism destination and encouraging the trade spin-offs brought about by the increased interaction.
"At the end of the day, tourism is the main thing we have to facilitate nore intensive interaction between people for better understanding," Israeli ambassador Alon Ushpiz said Wednesday.
He said the focus to push tourism was part of Israel's commitment to widen cooperation with India on the completion of 20 years of diplomatic ties between the countries in 2012. The efforts have paid off with a sprawling tourism pavilion at SATTE travel mart in the capital and several cultural and trade initiatives which will continue through 2013, he added.
Inaugurating the Israel pavilion at SATTE, South Asia's largest B2B travel mart in the country Jan 16-18, Ushpiz said Isreal and India have signed a memorandum of understanding to boost bilateral ties in the tourism sector with a dedicated office in Mumbai and increasing air connectivity between the two countries.
Israeli national carrier El Al operates four direct flights a week from Tel Aviv to Mumbai, most of which are fully booked during the season, the envoy said.
He said he had met Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to discuss the possibility of tie-ups between Israeli and Indian carriers to reach out to state capitals and smaller cities.
An India-Israel agreement aims to increase tourism to and from both countries by half by the end of 2013 to 150,000.
"Israel is turning to India because the country has emerged number one in terms of tourist arrivals from Asia," the envoy said.
"The number of Indian tourists to Israel is dramatically growing and is reaching well over 40,000 people (on an average) a year. Seeing the huge potential of Indian tourists, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism decided to put India at the forefront of its promotional activity in Asia, and is in the advanced stages of opening a fully operational tourism promotion office in Mumbai," he said.
"The figures have been growing steadily from nearly 20,000 Indian arrivals in 2010 to 40,000 in 2011 and nearly 100,000 in 2012," Ushpiz said.
According to the envoy, India and Israel "share unique chemistry. One of the most beautiful attributes of Indian culture is the importance it stresses on hospitality and treatment of guests, even complete strangers."
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