Ziv Reinstein for ynetnews
Tourism Minister Uzi Landau comes up with creative way to increase
number of incoming tourists: Birthright-style trips to Israel for
Christian youth. But who will fund project?
New
Tourism Minister Uzi Landau seems to have found a solution for
increasing the number of tourists arriving in Israel. Like his
predecessor, Stas Misezhnikov, his plan involves the Evangelical
Christian population – but focuses on the younger generation.
In a
press conference held in Tel Aviv ahead of the Jewish New Year, the
minister said his future plans for increasing the volume of tourism to
Israel included an initiative to conduct a Taglit-style journey for
young Evangelicals.
"The Christians have a problem with their
next generation too," the minister explained. "We are looking to get
closer to this public in order to generate tourism and support for
Israel when they return to their homeland, become our ambassadors and
view Israel not through CNN's eyes."
According to Landau, who
took office about five months ago, the ministry he heads focuses on
digital marketing "in order to concentrate on certain target groups we
believe in," as opposed to financial investment in marketing Israel
worldwide.
"We won't be able to invest $50 million and more in
the coming year to brand the State of Israel, as suggested by the Ernst
& Young consulting company," he said, adding that he was looking for
other alternatives.
The Taglit (Birthright Israel) project,
which began in 1999, is a Zionist initiative by the Jewish Agency and
Jewish communities in the Diaspora, which aims to take Jews who have
never visited Israel on a 10-day tour of the Jewish state and bring them
closer to their roots and to the State. The project is funded by
philanthropists.
"We won't be able to invest in the project," the
minister says in regards to the Christian "Taglit" project, "but one of
the ideas raised in the meeting I held on the matter was that the
community itself would fund the journey."
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