TOURISM MINISTRY LAUNCHES FIRST TV ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN IN INDIA, SUPPORTED
BY DIGITAL AND PRINT MEDIA
- Two-month, NIS 6 million campaign
- Incoming tourism from India grew 13% on 2015
- Ministry target of 100,000 tourists by 2018

Link to TV commercial: https://youtu.be/7izuny0BN8A
Israel Tourism Ministry website for India: http://www.goisrael.in/

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin: "Breaking into the large Asian market - in
particular China and India - is one of the main objectives set by the
Tourism Ministry. The experiential campaign that we have launched in India
has been adapted to the particular characteristics and taste of the Indian
market. This is in addition to the innovative campaigns that we are
launching in China. I am sure that the significant marketing activity we are
doing in China and India will lead to an increase in the numbers of incoming
tourists from these destinations."

Ministry of Tourism Jerusalem, August 24, 2016 - The Israel Tourism
Ministry recently launched its first major TV advertising campaign in India
to promote incoming tourism to Israel, under the slogan: "On most vacations,
you take a trip. But in Israel, you take a journey." The visual elements of
the campaign underline the unique and moving vacation experience that Israel
has to offer - a rich mix of history, culture and a vibrant, contemporary
lifestyle. The Tourism Ministry has tripled its marketing budget this year
for the Indian market, one of the major emerging markets for incoming
tourism to Israel.

The two-month campaign, with an investment of NIS 6 million, features a TV
commercial, as well as advertisements and marketing content in leading
travel and consumer print media, with a significant presence across social
media. The TV campaign complements other marketing activity in social and
digital media, travel trade promotions (such as the recent Road Show in
Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai attended by 800 Indian travel
agents) and hosting opinion-formers and decision-makers in Israel.

These include, among others, the hosting of Bollywood star and fashion icon
Sonam Kapoor in May 2016, which included a photo-shoot on location in Israel
for the June-July 2016 cover of Harpers Bazaar Bride India magazine and a
documentary film about her visit. Other recent influential Indian
opinion-formers hosted this year by the Israel Tourism Ministry include
Indian journalist and author Aditi Mathur Kumar and Bollywood producer Tanuj
Garg on a scouting mission for future productions.

In February 2015, the Travel Agents Federation of India held its annual
conference in Jerusalem for the first time, and in March 2016, members of
the Maharashtra Tour Operators Association visited Israel, exposing Israel's
varied tourism product to hundreds of travel trade professionals. Over 70%
of Indians base their travel destination choice on the recommendation of
their travel agent.

As part of the ongoing work of the Israel Tourism Ministry to adapt the
tourism infrastructure to meet the needs of tourists from Asia in general
and India in particular, the ministry hosted four Indian celebrity chefs in
November 2015, who gave culinary workshops to hotel and restaurant chefs.
Hotels in Israel are already offering Indian cuisine to their guests.

The Israel Government Tourist Office in Mumbai, which was officially opened
last year by Tourism Ministry Director-General Amir Halevi, is headed by
Hassan Madah.

Background:

Approximately 40,000 tourists visited Israel from India during 2015 (up 13%
on 2014), and about 25,000 in Jan-July 2016 (up 6% on the same period last
year). The Ministry of Tourism has set a target of 100,000 visitors from
India by 2018, focusing its activity on attracting those tourists from the
growing sector of middle-class Indians looking for vacation destinations far
from their home country, as well as incentive and conference -related travel
(MICE). This, in addition to the classic Indian Christian pilgrim tourism
market.

The average tourist to Israel spends $2,208 on services in the country on a
10.3 average night stay. The Indian traveler spends $2,385 on an average
stay of just 7.5 nights. 79% are first-time visitors to Israel. (Source:
IMOT tourist satisfaction survey, Jan-June 2015).

El Al currently has three direct weekly flights in the summer and five in
the winter months from Tel Aviv to Mumbai and the Tourism Ministry is in
discussions with Indian airlines to increase seat capacity and thereby
reduce prices by bringing Indian carriers into the route.

About 20 million Indians traveled overseas on vacation in 2015. This number
is expected to double by 2020 to around 40-50 million. Israel is a potential
choice destination for a growing sector of the market - Indians, who are
mostly young, financially secure and looking for something extra and unique
beyond favored destinations such as the United States and Europe.