Gal Hana has had an unanticipated couple of years to think about tourism, without the added pressure of actually fulfilling his mandate – encouraging Canadian travellers to visit Israel, at least in the short term – at a time when international was largely forbidden. Instead, the country’s director of tourism in Canada continued to dwell on tourism as it should be: sustainable, meaningful, and purposeful.
Not that Hana wasn’t of a similar mindset before the pandemic, but now much of the world is echoing his way of thinking, broadly described as “build back better.”
“Travel takes us out of our comfort zone, which has been magnified by social media during the pandemic,” he told an audience late last week at a co-branded travel trade function with the Greek tourist board in Toronto. “Tourism has a purpose and a vision.”
And Hana maintains that the travel trade has a critical role in fulfilling that mission, including promoting sustainably initiatives such as seasonality, travelling to the fringes and engaging with locals.
“We should be telling the people when, how and why to travel. This is the quantum leap forward. We’ve had two long, difficult years to reflect on what we want to promote. Travel should take the driver’s seat (and steer toward) toward the trend of meaningful travel. How can we make travel and tourism matter in the day to day?
“Everyone is doing more than selling the world, you’re improving the world,” he added. “Make sure the prosperity of tourism crosses borders all the time… You have the power to do it.”
As for tourism crossing borders, Israel joined with Greece – a country the Israel tourism office’s deputy director Jerry Adler described as “sharing a lengthy history” with Israel – on the night for an event to promote regional travel, with the Greek National Tourist Board sending representatives from New York for the occasion.
Israel has previously utilized the unique approach to tourism promotion in the past – memorably with the Palestine Tourism Authority some years ago – and is planning a similar event with another destination partner in the near future.
Advisory board
Meanwhile, the Israeli tourist board has also convened a Canadian advisory board, comprised of over a dozen members from both the travel industry and beyond, to advise it on “global and mega trends in the most comprehensive way and see how Israel’s Ministry of Tourism and the activities the Ministry offers should adjust and improve to prepare for future traveller demands…”
“Our board is diverse and equipped with the best of the best from a number of industries all of which touch the travel business from sustainability to PR and marketing to food & beverage and technology,” said Hana. “The multiple industries represented will allow for wider perceptions and perspectives across sectors that we otherwise may not have considered.”
Hana told Travel Industry Today that the advisory board was to take shape before the pandemic but had to be postponed.
Moreover, he noted the broad reach of members with the notion that “no single person would recognize everyone on the board.”
With such a diverse cast – “I don’t know everything,” Hana says – the goal is to identify mega trends that would ensure that the ministry doesn’t miss anything and “go blindly into the future.” Especially at a time when travel is effectively “starting from scratch.”
The first official advisory board meeting will take place April 6.