“In light of the steps taken by the Tourism Ministry, I estimate that the impact of Operation Pillar of Defense on tourism will be a few percentage points decrease in incoming tourism, perhaps no more than 3-4%. I believe the effects of the operation will cease to be felt after May 2013.” So said Tourism Ministry Director-General Noaz Bar-Nir, during a panel entitled “Operation Pillar of Defense – the effects and how to deal with them” at the Herzliya Conference on Tourism that took place today (Monday). Participating in the panel were Chairman, Marketing Committee of the Israel Hotels Association Ami Hirschstein, Head of the Negev Development Authority Nathan Haim Gibly, CEO of Arkia Gadi Tepper, CEO of Eshet Incoming Tours Amnon Ben David and tour guide Yael Shilo.
Yael Shilo noted that “a tour guide does not expect to work every day of the year, rather about 120 days. 20-30 groups who canceled their visit to Israel as a result of Operation Pillar of Defense is a significant number, representing about 30-40% of income. The Operation is just one more nail in the continuing crisis, if we include the global economic crisis, the threat of war with Iran and chemical weapons in Syria. All these scare away potential tourists and those that do come, arrive in smaller groups. You can see a reduction in the number of tourists at major tourist sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Mount of Olives – the wait time is reduced to several minutes.”
Tourism Ministry Director-General Noaz Bar-Nir added that ‘despite the security threats, we have reached record numbers in incoming tourism. January and February are traditionally weak months and yet just yesterday there was a direct flight to Eilat. We have taken significant steps to rehabilitate tourism to the south, which is mainly domestic tourism, and I hope this will indeed help the south to recuperate. The big story lies with the other tourism sites in Israel: in November, there was a 10% decrease in the number of tourists and in December a 9% decrease, with 14% less overnights. As regards overseas wholesalers, there was only damage to the charter flights to Eilat, which is significant. Therefore, we added significant budgets to overseas campaigns, with the emphasis on Eilat.
Ami Hirschstein was optimistic, claiming that the crisis would end within 3-5 months. “In international marketing, we are talking about branding the country. We must continue the same investments as before. We must show that Israel is a safe country to visit and we must continue our international marketing efforts.”
Gadi Teper recalled that, when the first missile hit an apartment in Rishon leZion, he was accompanying the Deputy Managing Director of Airbus who was visiting the country at the time and was recalled back home the same day. “No one has the courage to operate a flight from Paris to Eilat these days.” However, Arkia is currently investigating the possibility of flights to the Dead Sea. “At Arkia, we are beginning to sense signs of reawakening for the coming season.”
Operation Pillar of Defense, which took place in December 2012, caused significant damage to the Israeli tourism industry in general and in the south in particular. Only 3% of the hotel accommodation supply is located in the south and therefore the effect on the economy was negligible. Nonetheless, the real damage was felt in the overall tourism industry, especially on those cities which rely on incoming tourism. The main effect will be felt during the period November 2012 through May 2013.
As a result, the Tourism Ministry decided to take immediate action in a number of ways in order to minimize the damage and to shorten the time taken to recover from the crisis. These included, among others, an additional grant allocation for marketing campaigns in Israel and overseas and an increase in assistance (marketing agreements, marketing funds etc) as follows:
- Campaigns in Russia, Ukraine, USA, Germany and others. A total of NIS 35 million was allocated to marketing campaigns and increase advertising activity in Israel and overseas to encourage tourism, especially to the south.
- The campaign “Take a winter break in Israel” in association with the Israel Hotels Association at a cost of NIS 3.4 million
- The NIS 300,000 campaign “Go Daroma (South)” to encourage small businesses in tourism and accommodations, as well as an increase in marketing activity for the Red South festival that will take place in February at a cost of NIS 100,000.
- A special directive for festivals and events in the south – the Tourism Ministry participated in up to 50% of the total costs of events and festivals taking place between 1 January and 30 June 2013 with an overall investment of NIS 700,000.
- An increase in the marketing fund for incoming tour operators to the value of NIS 1 million.
- A directive for financial assistance for small businesses and hospitality units in the south with a grant of 24% of the total investment
- Increase in the tourism incubator consultancy service for people involved in the tourism industry in the south of NIS 200,000 and a subsidy of up
- to 75% of the consultancy cost.
