Page 6-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday. September 24, 1992
M-T
Ganada
CJN
Exclusive
Ruth
Tsur
Ruth Ben-Tsur is the new director for Canada of the Israel Government Tourist Office, a branch of the Israel Tourism of Ministry, and is responsible for promoting tourism to Israel.
With a BA degree in international relations and sociology from Hebrew University and an MA in political science and African studies, also from Hebrew U. Ben-Tsur first worked in public relations in the Knesset and wrote for the influential newspaper. Ma 'ariv. She later was given the position as spokeswoman for MosheDayan before taking over as head of public relations for the Israel Land Authority.
She joined the .senior staff of the Ministry of Tourism in 1984 as head of the tourist reception division, responsible for the information centres for tourists througout Israel. Prior to her posting here. Ben-Tsur was the national director for domestic tourism in Israel and was responsible for promoting Israel to the Israelis.
Married. withthreC children, she assumed her postJn Canada last month. CJN Managing Editor ten Butcher talked with Ben-Tsiir at her Toronto home.
CJN: .'l.v the new director of the IGTO in Canada.did you come here with any specific agenda or were you wailing to evaluate the situation before mapping out any strategy'.'
Ben-Tsur: 1 canie here with,a great knowledge of the Canadian market t'roni.reacjing all of Yehuda Shen's (the former IGTO director who recently retruned to Israel) reports that he had filed oyer the four years he was here.
I also went back 10 years and read thousands of pages of reports filed by his predecessors and studiedlhe Canadian market'.
C.IN: And what were-your impressions after ■studying these reports'.'
Ben-Tsur: The things that have been done here have been terrific and have been the right things, but not enough has been done. By not enough. Iniean that they didn't have the means at their disposal to implement ways to change the image of Israel and make it a tourist destination. .
Israel is not a country just for religious people, but I have a feeling that's the way it is looked. ..upon by a;great many North Americans. Israel has a iiKxiern infrastructure with beautiful hotels, great restaurants, incredible.scenery anda mag-nillcent coastline-everything that can suit any type of touri.st. And yes, there is the religious side, but that's a bonus. :
CJN: How do \ou want Canadians to look at Israel?      '   ' .
Ben-Tsur: I want people to consider Israel just as they consider Italy, France. Spain. Greece. Portugal and even Florida.
CJN: How do you plan to do this? ' .
Ben-Tsur: We have never approached the consumers and ihat'.s.something we must do. The pressure and demands to the travel agents should come from the consumers. People decide where they want to go. they don't let the travel agent decide. In order to put Israel in their minds and on their agendas, we have to approach them and the only way to do this is through mass media.
CJN: Easier said than done unless you're talking,about paid advertising, /.v that the way you plan to get your message across?
Ben-Tsur: We know we have to spend money and that money will be spent on various forms of advertising. We will also send media representatives to Israel to let them get a first hand look at the country and hopefully they'll conic back and write or show film clips of what they saw.
It will also help greatly if Israel can enjoy a quiet atmosphere so you don't have the North American-media reporting day and night about any conflict that might be taking place there.
When people aren't exposed to sensational me-
dia coverage they will soon look on Israel as they would any other country. It's not going to be an easy task, nor something that will change overnight, but we have to start.
CSS: One of the biggest factors in promoting tourism is the amount of money available to you. How does your budget compare to other countries on a per capita basis?
Ben-Tsur: Don't hurt me. I did a survey of how we compared to other countries and found we are far behind everyone else. Other countries are investing 10 to 20 times as as much as we do in promoting tourism and that's why 1 believe they get 10 to 20 times as many tourists.
I believe that if we only double our present budget that we would be able to reach those same numbers that go to these other destinations because of the advantages that Israel has. w'hich I
Tourism is like an export. Each tourist that comes to Israel leaves almost $1,000 and out of every dollar from tourism a net 85 cents goes to the national income, so we're talking a lot of money.' We need it and we know we need it. The only thing is that we don't have the money to invest in it right now because of other things that we have to do. I hope that the peace process will change that scenario, , .
CJN: /.V there any one particular market you 're targeiting first or will you try to reach all of the markets at the .same time?
Ben-Tsur: We are going to go after everyone. The Christian, or pilgrimage market, is a treriien-dous market and one that we have started to approach, but we haven't really gone after the ethnic groups yet, like the Italians, Polish. Ukrainians and Spanish. These arc people who have never
menti(Sned earlier.
CJN: Tourism is a major source of revenue for most countries in the world today. Wliy hasn't more money been available to promote touri.sm to Israel? Is it that the government doesn 7 have it. or that tourism i.s not a prioritv?
Ben-Tsur: It's a question of priorities. You know Israel very .well and you know the problems we are facing in absorbing the thiuisands of new olim that have been, and are arriving on a continuiiig basis. Ifcosts^a lot of money to accommodateL them, but it is important that wc do so .
j believe the gbvernmcnt thinks \ ery highly of tourism and considers it an econonn'c branch.
been to Israel, yet are very religious', so we're going to invest a lot of effort in this market.
There is also the general market who we will tr>' to convince that Israel is a great vacation destination.
Then there's the Jewish market, a great percentage of whjch has never been to Israel. -
CJN: How do youfeeiabout the fact that .so few Jews go to Israel?
Ben-Tsur: Ever)' Israeli believes that it is a natural thing that every Jew in the worid will come and live in Israel, but it's also a fact of life that this is not true; We live in a free worid and everv-one can make their own choice as to where thev
wish to live. I see Israel as the homeland for the Jews, but that's my point of view.
I find the Jewish community in Canada very warm, very loving and very dedicated to helping Israel. Everyone I've met here I've felt like I was talking to an Israeli because they know Israel well and are very involved and concerned in what's going on, which makes me feel ver>' comfortable.
At the same time, I know that many Jews here have not been to Israel, yet go to Florida everv year and in a way, I feel .sad. even hurt when i hear this. I told .some of my friends and Jewish leaders that I would make a deal with them, that for ever)' seven times a Jew gt^s to Florida, he or she goes once to Israel.
I don't want to demand that people go to Israel. One should feel privileged to go and see it and ifyou're a Jew it means a lot more. Israel is home for all Jews and when you get there, there IS something in the atmosphere, as if someone IS whispering in your ear that you belong there. \ou feel like vou are home.
CJN: Ld.st year. Israel did a joint venture with Greece. Was it successful and do y( >u plan any other joint  ventures  with Medilerranean countries? •     ' '
Ben-Tsur:We worked hand in hand with Greece ld.st year and it was very successful so I'm sure we'll continue that program. Packages can also be sold with Egypt. We find that people want to 6o more than one thing, .so if we can offer a package that gi>es Israel-Greece. Israel-Egypt. Israel-, Spain, it becomes much nmre attractive.
And as you.knOw. a direct service ha^ been iipened from Tel .Aviv to Beijing so Israel has now become the gateway to the Far East. Now vou'U.be able to go to Israel, spend a nice seven days' vacation, then go on to Beijing for the sanie price.
CJN: What other respimsibilities encompa.ss the IGTO?
Ben-Tsur: To the public our otfice is a small Israel. We. which includes my.self. Debbie Vadas and Ellen Melman. give information to everyone who calls lis and will even suggest itineraries li>r them. We're there lo answer questions oh Is-, rael and to make business by encouraging travel agents to sell Israel. Wealso spihsbr brochures, seminars, anything to promote Israel and to work with the airlines.
■ El Al. of course, is Israel's national, airiine.. but we will do our utmost to see that .Air Canada flies to Israel. I think it's a psychi>logical obstacle to Canadians when they see their own national airline dcKsn'i fly there.
CJN: Why hasn't Air Canada taken advantage of its landing rights in Israel?
Ben-Tsur: I'm sure they ha\ e their own reasons, most of them economical. T would guess, but w hen they see that Israel can be a profitabledes-tinaiion. I'm sure they'll start flying there. That's one of our goals.
CJN: What about the latest development with Sunquest. which has added Israel to their list of destinati(ms?
Ben-Tsur: This is a real breakthrough for us. It's the first lime in Israel's history that such a large company is selling Israel. We're very excited and looking forward to the results which I'm sure will be very positive. We'll know eariy next year because the Sunquest program begins in January.
CJN: \Vliat do you hope to accomplish over the —next four years?
Ben-Tsur: I would like to think, at the end of the four years, that almo.st even.'body 1 speak to will tell me they've gone to Israel or have made definite plans to go. Tm almos't"positive we can do it.