Doug Mckenzie, Director, Canadian Department

Doug McKenzie, Director, Canadian Department of Tourism

Shmuel Ben Ami, Director of Tourism, Israeli Ministry of Tourism

Thanks for Canadian Tourism Promotion to Israel and Project Proposal

As the Director for Tourism in Israel and a participant in this Vancouver conference with you, I thank you for your kind promotion of tourism to my country during this very difficult time. The tourism industry is one of the pillars of our economy (3.45 million tourist arrivals in the year 2010) and I can not tell you how much the people of Israel appreciate this support in a world which is usually at best ambivalent about the Jewish state or hostile to its existence. Your support is a God send and your friendship will always resonate in our hearts. We hope to continue to build upon this friendship in the future with many joint projects between our tourism departments to promote tourism in both Canada and Israel.

Tourism Expansion

The following statistics are general and apply to most Western countries like Canada. According to the our Israeli Ministry of Tourism of statistics, in 2009 some 54% of the 2.7 million visitors to the state of Israel were Christian. The level of Jewish tourists accounted for some 39%. Tourism revenue in 2009 totaled some $3.3 billion USD. In 2010, the tourism sector constituted 6.4% of the country's GDP. The contribution of tourism to the Israeli Gross Domestic Product is expected by the WTTC to rise from some 6.4% ($12.0 billion USD) in the year 2010 to some 7.2% ($22.1 billion) by year 2020. The contribution of tourism to employment was 223,000 jobs in 2010, some 7.9% of total employment. Israeli export earnings from international visitors generated 6.5% of Israel's total exports (U.S. $4.8 billion) in 2010. Investment in Israel in tourism is some $2.3 billion USD or some 7.6% n 2010. Israel Travel & Tourism economy is ranked number 51 worldwide by the WTTC.

What Israel Offers Today in General

Israel offers a great plethora of historical and religious sites. It also offers beach resorts, archaeological tourism sites, heritage tourism sites and ecotourism. Israel now has the highest number of museums of any country per capita in the world. Most of the countries tourists visit from the U.S., Canada, France, Russia, the UK, Russia, Germany and Italy.

Jerusalem -- the Main Attraction

Jerusalem has some 3.5 million tourist arrivals annually. One of the oldest cities in the world, it is the capital of Israel and largest city of Israel if the area and population of occupied East Jerusalem are included. The city is holy to 3 major religions, including Judaism, Christianity and also Islam. Most important is the Temple Mount site of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem with the Western Wall at its foot and with the Dome of the Rock, Al-Aqsa Mosque and Mount of Olives where Jesus preached and tradition says he ascended into heaven.

Bob McKenzie

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February 27, 2012

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