The issue that generated the great interest among travel market professionals was the discussion of post war Israel and its readiness to welcome tourists held ın the on-line conference on www.tourdom.ru. Mr Pollyak, the Head of Israel Tourist Office in Russia, and representatives of five leading tour operating companies hardly had time to answer all the questions from the particıpants of the on-line conference. The majority of questıons referred to the safety at Israeli resorts, especially in the North of the country. Mr. Pollyak commented as follows: 'serious measures have been taken by Israel to provide safety of tourists'. Elena Kaller from CMK tour added: 'for fourteen years I have been working with Israel none of the tourists suffered from war. Touristic routes are far from unstable regions'. According to experts, the Israeli destination has an important peculiarity: combinatiom of cities within excursion programs can be changed easily. 'Touristic programs of the destination are very flexible', said Ari Baranochnik from RosGosTour. Therefore, when the war started partners of Russian tour operators urgently adopted changes within excursion programs in favor of the center of the country and Jerusalem. As a result, travel market players have not registered a considerble drop in demand for the destination.
Participants of the on-line conference also focused their attention on the budget allocated to Israel promotion in the Russian market by Israeli authorities. Mr. Pollyak pointed out that in fall - winter season 2007 the Minstry of Tourism of Israel plan to allocate around $450 000 to image advertising of the destination in Russia. 'We believe that this year will be the most successful and a number of tourists will exceed the biggest tourist flow (2004) - 2,4 million people', said Pollyak.
The conference is available here.
