Some 150 leading tour operators from around the world are in Tel Aviv to participate in the ‘WHERE ELSE: Israel Tourism Convention 2012’ that gets underway today. The week-long conference will take the international travel agents to diverse sites around the country.

The convention is also meant to encourage incoming tourism to Israel.

“There is no doubt that Operation Pillar of Defense affected incoming tourism but we are already taking steps towards swift rehabilitation, minimizing damage and renewing the momentum of incoming tourism over the last three years,” said Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov.

Most of the participants will be visiting Israel for the first time and the objective is to expose them to the Israeli tourism product, with its many opportunities in entertainment, leisure and vacation as well as the niche package options and the possibility of tailoring them to their target markets.

Countries represented at the week-long conference include the US, Brazil, Canada, Belgium, France, UK, Spain, Finland, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, South Africa, China, India and Korea.

The tour operators will visit Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, Eilat, Jerusalem, Caesarea, Haifa, Tiberias and the Galilee area.

“According to data from the World Tourism Organization, the growth in world tourism stands at four percent (January-August). Incoming tourism to Israel for the same period is nearly double that figure (7%). This is a result of the focused and intensive marketing activities of the tourism ministry to increase the number of those marketing Israel, to develop new markets and maintain existing ones,” said Misezhnikov.