ISRAEL FAM TRIP: Monarch hosts five agents and four operator staff on its first fam trip to the country. Amie Keeley reports from Tel Aviv, Eilat and Jerusalem
Flight time to Israel is four-and-a-half hours
Monarch trumpets year-round merits of ‘unique’ Israeli resorts
Last year Monarch announced it would be launching a programme to Israel, selling flight and hotel packages from Luton to Tel Aviv and Eilat.
Since starting in December, the operator has carried 20,000 passengers to the country. And last month it started a summer season of flights from Manchester to Tel Aviv. Perceptions about safety remain
a significant challenge, both for the operator and the country’s tourism authorities. While the Foreign Office advises against travel only to certain areas in the country such as Gaza, it does warn of a “high level of terrorism”. Monarch says its decision to
operate to Israel was made on the back of growing demand in the UK. Head of trade sales Simon Garrido also said the range of holidays Israel offered and its warm all-year climate made it an obvious choice for the operator and a destination that agents can sell easily. “Israel gives us the opportunity to operate to a destination where
Located on the shore of the
“Israel is the sort of destination that you can add value to with knowledge and advice”
we believe there are possibilities for city breaks, beach holidays and a mixture of the two,” he said. “The year-round climate enables
us to operate a longer season than traditional summer or winter resorts. “And it’s unique. Very few destinations that come on to the market give agents the opportunity to tailor a holiday around their customers’ needs. “It’s the sort of destination
that you can add value to with knowledge and advice.” As well as the beaches and buzzing nightlife of Tel Aviv, Garrido said there is an opportunity for the resort city of Eilat to attract those winter-sun seekers who usually head for Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt or Tunisia.
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travelweekly.co.uk 12 May 2016
Red Sea, Eilat is packed with family-friendly hotels, stretches of beach and diving. “Eilat was very successful back in the day, so we believe there are opportunities there,” said Garrido. “There’s good-quality sun within
four-and-a-half hours of the UK.” Commenting on safety concerns,
Jerusalem
he said: “We wouldn’t operate to a non-safe destination. We believe it’s a particularly safe area to come to and very secure. “We can only go on how we
find the experience in Tel Aviv and Eliat. We’ve found it to be as security-conscious as a lot of the other destinations that we travel to.”
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