As well as being astonished – as a recent student – that anyone might fly me to another country and wine me and dine me for free, I fell in love with its unique religious heritage, authentic cuisine and inspiring landscapes.
Returning to the country for the ITT Conference in Tel Aviv this week, it was lovely to witness fellow delegates go on their own journey of discovery in Israel, as they enjoyed excursions to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, coming back raving about what they’d seen and learnt.
I led a session at the conference in which Tui’s UK boss Nick Longman discussed Tui’s forthcoming rebrand of Thomson to Tui in the UK, and the additional “brand stretch” that this will allow for (page 5).
In a sense, Israel could benefit from a rebrand too. The perception that Israel is not a safe destination persists; as the minister of tourism joked in his welcome, “I’m sure you’re all a little disappointed not to see tanks parked outside the hotel”. And high prices have been another barrier for the Middle Eastern country in terms of achieving its tourism potential.
Tourism chiefs at the conference described how it intends to tackle these barriers, by subsidising the building of new hotels to help bring costs down and offering incentives to airlines to increase airlift. And in its own version of “brand stretch”, the tourist board is now to put a greater focus on sun and sea product, to create a market beyond the pilgrimages and cultural tourism that have previously brought in so much of its business.
Tackling perceptions about safety and security is a harder task, but having people come and experience the destination is a vital step. The ITT delegates I spoke to are certainly taking home the message that they felt incredibly safe. By hosting the UK travel industry in such fine style, and creating a raft of new brand advocates, Israel may well have hit upon the holy grail.
