The Isreael Ministry of Tourism is offering a new set of travel incentives, in order to encourage Europeans to visit the southern resort city of Eilat.
The ministry will offer an incentive of โฌ45 ($48.50) per passenger to aviation companies operating direct flights into Ovdah, the airport that serves Eilat, during the upcoming winter season 2015/2016.
Eilat has suffered from a drop of tens of percentage points in incoming tourism from Europe. In addition, incoming tourism is also affected by the economic crisis in Russia, which is the second largest source country for incoming tourism (after the USA) and by the high prices relative to the competition.
During the previous winter season, from September 2013 to February 2014, about 40,000 tourists came to Eilat as opposed to 12,000 in the same period this year.