TORONTO — The Israel Ministry of Tourism wants to be front and centre with Canadian consumers – and with Canadian travel advisors and the travel trade too.

With that in mind, IMOT is rolling out new initiatives for the Canadian market in the coming weeks, including its new ad campaign ‘Israel: Exactly Like Nowhere Else’, new videos and a new specialist program for travel agents.

IMOT’s Gal Hana, Consul for Tourism and Director for Canada, and Eyal Carlin, Consul and Commissioner for North America, provided an overview of IMOT’s projects at a media update yesterday.

Going live next week on the Online Training Academy, the new Israel Destination Specialist Program aims to give travel advisors the destination background and product knowledge they need to sell Israel. There are four modules: Faith-Based; Outdoor & Active Travel; Multi-Gen & Heritage; and Food, Wine & Culture. Agents can complete the course to become Israel Specialists.

There’s lots to learn, even for seasoned Israel sellers. As Hana put it: “If you think you know everything there is to know about Israel, we beg to differ.”

There’s also a website just for agents, at agents.israel.travel. The trade-dedicated site includes marketing resources, itinerary suggestions and more.

Travel advisors are more important than ever, said Hana. The pandemic proved what agents already know – that when it comes to planning and booking a trip, there’s nothing like having a trusted travel advisor in your corner.

“We want to increase our distribution in Canada,” he said. “We want every travel agent out there to know about us.”

And Carlin added: “Our aim is to be much more present to the Canadian audience, to both the trade and the end consumer. We know that the Canadian travel agent has many options to choose from, and we want them to choose Israel.”

The benefits go both ways. More travel agents selling Israel will boost the destination’s profile in Canada even higher. And for agents, learning about Israel and promoting this unique destination will help agents stay indispensible as some consumers turn to AI tools like ChatGPT to book their trips. “The world is going to an automated place,” said Hana. Staying up to date on one-of-a-kind destinations like Israel will ensure agents, not AI tools, are a traveller’s go-to trip planner.

Israel continues to prioritize its strategy of working with other destinations, like Greece. The two countries paired up last month for an event in Toronto, building on the success from a similar event in 2022. “We believe that one plus one can equal three, or four,” said Hana, as he explained the win-win proposition with the two-destination marketing strategy.

Hana and Carlin say Israel is looking forward to hosting more travel advisors and other trade partners in 2023 and the years to come. IMOT is working to make its FAM offerings more robust, and more focused. IMOT will also increase its advertising in Canada this year, buoyed by the strong early reception to its ‘Israel: Exactly Like Nowhere Else’ campaign.

The recovery of the Canadian market to Israel got off to a slower start than that of other source markets like the U.S. But the numbers are getting stronger every month. The number of visits from the Canadian market in February 2023 was just 5% off February 2019 numbers.

More information about Israel can be found at Israel.travel and agents.israel.travel.