Israel-Philippines direct flights mulled

MANILA, Philippines — Israel wants to improve connectivity to and from the Philippines, particularly with the introduction of direct flights, in a bid to lure more Filipino tourists.

The Israel Ministry of Tourism held a tourism roadshow in Makati Tuesday as part of efforts to attract more Filipinos to visit the Holy Land.

“We are trying to do as much activities as we can like business to business (B2B) activities to showcase Israel,” Hassan Madah, Israel Ministry of Tourism director for India and the Philippines, said.

“We are also working on connectivity as we discuss with Philippine Airlines the possibility of having a direct flight, hopefully by the end of the year,” Madah said.

Madah said the Philippines is an emerging tourism market for Israel as the number of Filipino travellers has been significantly growing in the last two years.

In 2017, 23,500 Filipinos visited Israel, 61 percent up from 14,600 in the year before.

“We wanted to tap new markets, so we decided to conduct roadshows in Manila and Cebu,” Madah said.

Around 19 companies from Israel joined the roadshow. The Manila event was conducted in a networking format with companies from Israel and attended by over 100 travel agents.

Madah attributed the increase in visitors to greater awareness, competition among tour operators as well as more affordable airfare and tour packages.

The tourism official said a number of Israeli tour operators and travel agencies have been coming to the Philippines to attract potential tourists.

He added that the competition between tour operators and travel agencies to get more clients from the Philippines is leading to cheaper rates for travel packages, which in turn benefits the tourists.

While Israel is boosting its efforts to attract more Filipino tourists, Madah said these initiatives would also benefit the Philippine tourism industry.

“I think it’s a natural thing, once you see people coming in from one country, you will also see that people coming in from that country will also be coming in,”Madah said.

The Philippine Department of Tourism(DOT) earlier said Israel is among the key markets it will closely monitor this year.

Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr. said the DOT’s focus on Israel is mainly driven by the potential of the Philippines to be competitive in attracting more visitors from the two countries.