Israel plans to ease visa rules for Indians

Jerusalem, March 2: Seeking to attract Indian tourists, Israel plans to ease visa norms for India and has hiked its marketing budget for the country 10 times to $2.5 million in the last two years.

“We realise that India is going to be one of the top three countries sending tourists to Israel and so we have started to invest a lot in marketing our tourism potential there,” director general of Israel’s ministry of tourism, Amir Halevi, said.

“We have already opened a tourist office in India. We also launched our first campaign last year which was a big success,” he said.

He said 50,000 Indians come to Israel every year. “There is a huge potential given India’s size and this number can be easily doubled in a very short time. Indian tourists generally spend more than the average tourist which also makes them an attractive target,” he said.

The marketing budget has been increased 10 times to $2.5 million compared to what it was two years ago, Mr Halevi said.

On concerns related to visa for Indians and subsequent problems to such visitors in travelling to the Arab world, he said the process has been made “better and would be even easier”.

“A tourist from India looking to get visa stamped on paper can get it that way and there will really be no problem with that,” he said.

A spokesperson of the ministry said that “given the importance of India as an emerging market for incoming tourists, the tourism ninistry has submitted a request to ease visa restrictions on Indian tour groups wishing to visit the country.”

“It is hoped that this request will be granted in the near future, reducing the wait time for a group visa to five working days,” the spokesperson said.

However, the “game changer” in these efforts is going to be the expected introduction of direct Air India flights between India and Israel later this year, Mr Halevi said.