Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias on Wednesday called his Israeli counterpart Yoel Razvozov and expressed his horror and condolences over the deaths of civilians during an armed attack in a Tel Aviv suburb. Kikilias and Razvozov had met the previous day, wrapping up Kikilias’ visit to Israel.
During the meeting on Tuesday, the two ministers had agreed to ramp up cooperation between Greece and Israel, especially in marine tourism.
Kikilias announced that he is planning an initiative to promote regional cooperation in tourism between Mediterranean countries and Razvozov expressed Israel’s support for the Greek initiative.
The Greek tourism minister also had a number of meetings on the margins of the IMTM 2022 tourism fair, with Israeli tourism market executives, representatives of airline companies and tour operators. They included the CEO of El Al, Avigal Soreq, the CEO of Arkia Israel Airlines Gaddi Tepper, and the CEO and VP Sales and Marketing of the travel group Flying Carpet, Eyal Kashdan and Oren Cohen Meguri.
During these meetings, the airline CEOs agreed to increase flights to Greek destinations in 2022, while Arkia announced a new flight to the city of Volos.
At the crux of the minister’s meetings was a further increase of tourism flows from Israel to Greece and especially to areas of historical significance for Israelis, such as Thessaloniki, as well as promoting cruise tourism and extending the stays of Israeli visitors, combined with alternative forms of tourism.
SOURCE; AMNA
