India, Israel sign agreement to boost tourism

To attract more tourists from India, Israel has decided to ease visa norms and open a new office in Mumbai.

Indian and Israeli tourism ministers on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding to improve bilateral ties in tourism.

During a press conference in Jerusalem, Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov announced the signing of the agreement to double the number of tourists travelling between the two countries within the next three years.

India replaced South Korea as the top source market for Israel from Asia. Some 50,000 Indians visit Israel every year.

According to reports, Israel will also open a tourist office in Mumbai and will invest about $660,000 to attract more visitors from India.

Additionally, the Jewish state plans to construct 200,000 new hotel rooms as well as increase the number of El Al flights from three times a week to one per day.

Currently, Israeli carrier, El Al, flies between Tel Aviv and Mumbai thrice a week. There are plans to introduce new routes from Delhi, Kolkata and Goa.

Both the countries have further decided to have a tourism development forum with representation from all stakeholders, including travel agents, hoteliers and tour operators

Union Minister of Tourism Subodh Kant Sahai, who is on a four-day visit to Israel along with a delegation of state ministers, Members of Parliament and senior central and state government officers, emphasised on the fast growing outbound travel from India.

"Average Indian has now become a great traveller. 80 per cent of Indians are economically ready to match any place in the world. Our outbound tourism has increased four times and Israel is one of the prime destinations, given heritage linkages," PTI quoted him saying.

As of now, most tourists visiting Israel are Christian pilgrims touring the Holy sites. The bilateral agreement however outlines plan to attract visitors from different religions.

"India is a multicultural and vast country, with big economic growth. A large amount of Indians now have the possibility and the desire to travel abroad and we are sure that a destination like Israel will attract all Indians, not only Christians," Sahai was quoted saying.