Israel and Greece announced Monday the start of an unprecedented cooperative tourism program to attract more American tourists to Israel and Greece.
“We are very excited about this historic venture, which will link not only the world’s oldest civilizations, but also two of the most exciting vacation destinations in the world,” Simos Dimas of the Greek National Tourist Organization declared in a joint press conference here with Moshe Shoshani Israel’s Commissioner for Tourism for North America.
According to the two officials, the Greece Israel program will promote U.S. tourism to both countries. It will encourage tour operators currently active in this market to expand their services and induce those not selling such combination packages to enter the market. The two countries have allocated $200,000 each for a joint advertising campaign that will implement the program.
Last November, Greece and Israel signed an agreement on tourism. As part of the agreement, which was signed by Israel’s Tourism Minister Avraham Sharir, and his Greek counterpart Takis Roumeliotis, it was decided that the two countries will cooperate on a program to promote U.S. tourism to both countries.
There was a sharp decline in tourism from the U.S. to Israel and Greece last year. Shoshani said that only 250,000 American tourists came to Israel in 1986, compared with 430,000 in 1985.Dimas said that about 230,000 American tourists visited Greece in 1986 compared with 460,000 in 1986.
The joint Israel-Greece tour program offers five days in Greece and five days in Israel with flights from New York to Athens to Tel Aviv and back to New York.
Both officials said they hope that the program will be for the benefit of both countries and that it will lead to a meaningful increase in the number of American tourists.
“We are confident, ” Shoshani concluded, “that this landmark effort between our countries will serve not only to stimulate travel from the United States, but ultimately to create better understanding between nations.”
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