Israel Travel

The first concerts of Cohen in Israel, with his acoustic trio of Shai Maestro (piano) and Mark Giuliana (drums), will take place at Jerusalem’s The Lab art center on Thursday October 11. The Israeli bassist will also perform at Tel Aviv’s Zappa Club, starting from Friday, October 12 till Sunday October 14.

Avishai Cohen, born April 20, 1970 in Israel, is a musician who has been called a jazz visionary of global proportions by DownBeat, and was declared one of the 100 Most Influential Bass Players of the 20th Century by Bass Player Magazine. Until late in 2003, Avishai was a member of the Chick Corea New Trio, and accompanist to other jazz note-worthies, including Bobby McFerrin, Roy Hargrove, Herbie Hancock, Nnenna Freelon, Claudia Acuna, Paquito DRivera and many others.

His new album offers an overview of his career with highlights from his recordings: Smash, Elli, Samuel, One For Mark and Nu Nu are from Continuo (RazDaz, 2006), Remembering and Feediop were featured on At Home (RazDaz, 2005), Etude stems from the recording Unity (Avishai Cohen & The International Vamp Band, Stretch, 2001), and Bass Suite #1 is a stand out track from Avishais debut release, Adama (Stretch, 1998).

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UK low cost airline bmi is intends to launch a daily non stop service from Heathrow to Tel Aviv starting next spring. The move come after the successful conclusion of bilateral talks between the UK and Israeli governments, allow the designation of a second UK and Israeli airline on routes between London and Tel Aviv.

“The opportunity to be part of the growing business links and ties between the UK and Israel is extremely exciting and we shall look forward to playing our part in widening the competitive air links between the two countries, and the economic growth that this has historically achieved,” said Nigel Turner, bmi CEO.

The launch of services from Heathrow to Tel Aviv will grow the total number of destinations served by bmi, Heathrow’s second biggest airline, from Heathrow to 39. Earlier this month bmi announced the largest-ever expansion of its route network, with the opening of sales to 17 new destinations, including Baku, Cairo, Tehran, Beirut, and Amman. The move marks the completion of the integration of BA destinations that were operated by BMED under a franchise agreement. BMED was purchased by bmi in February 2007.   

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The first Israeli Biennial of Contemporary Art will open in Herzliya on Sunday, September 23, 2007. Entitled "The Rear", the week-long exhibition will feature approximately 70 Israeli artists, whose works will be presented in some 15 venues in Herzliya's new city center, at the intersection of Sokolow and Ben Gurion streets.

The Biennial, curated by Joshua Simon, will span works in diverse media and techniques: from photography, painting, and video, to urban interventions, needlework, and acts of masquerading.

The fine art event will present works by contemporary Israeli artists who respond to the space in which they operate – "The rear" (Ha'Oref in Hebrew, which also denotes "home front," "hinterland," "nape"): the home front as opposed to the front line – civilian society in Israel versus the army. "The Rear" is a general term that surfaced repeatedly during the recent war in the summer of 2006, when a million Israeli citizens in the country's north sat in bomb shelters, and a million Lebanese became refugees, fleeing from their country's ravaged South.

The Herzliya Biennial of Contemporary Art is a joint initiative of the Herzliya Municipality and the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art. As part of the Biennial events, the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art will stage an exhibition which will also open on September 23 and will be on view until December 15, 2007.

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Print advertisements include depictions of a dancer on the beach in Tel Aviv, a chef in Jerusalem, a cowboy on the Golan Heights, a Tel Aviv high-tech expert whose hobby is building guitars, and an archeologist atop Masada. The television campaign will be concentrated in New York, Los Angeles and south Florida.

Travelers from North America representing the largest single source of tourism to the country, with some 600,000 North Americans visited Israel in 2006, almost 30% of the total tourists visiting Israel last year. Israel goal is to double North American tourism to Israel by 2010.

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UK low cost airline Thomsonfly is launching new services to Tel Aviv this winter, with flights on sale now for departures starting on 1 November 2007. Thomsonfly is set to become the first low-fares airline to launch flights to Israel, offering potentially significant savings by comparison to existing high fares airlines serving Tel Aviv, including El Al and British Airways.

Thomsonfly will operate three flights a week from both London Luton and Manchester to Tel Aviv, Israel’s vibrant business capital. Thomsonfly prices start from £80 ($160) one way or £140 ($280) return, including taxes and charges.

“Our decision to launch into Tel Aviv will satisfy the huge demand for direct flights to this exciting Israeli city. The Israeli economy is strong and visitor numbers from the UK are up this year, which is a positive backdrop to the launch of new services,” said Guy Stephenson, Thomsonfly’s Commercial Director. “Both Thomson and Thomsonfly have a unique ability to stimulate tourism from the UK to Israel. Tel Aviv has a growing reputation as a stylish and lively choice for city breaks, but also as an important destination for cultural exchanges and as a place for doing business.”

Thomsonfly is part of TUI AG, the largest tourism and travel services group in the world, which is based in Hanover, Germany. Thomsonfly has a fleet of 47 aircraft and carries over 8 million passengers each year from 20 UK airports to over 80 destinations in 37 countries.

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Paul Winter, the famous composer and saxophonist and one of the earliest exponents of world Jazz music, will premiere his new work "Flyways" on May 17, at the Dead Sea Nahal Zohar, Dead Sea, Israel.

The premiere, in the presence of the deputy prime minister of Israel Shimon Peres, will include The Dimitry Pokrovsky Ensemble from Russia, the Efroni and Sawa choirs from Israel and dozen of musicians from Africa, Europe and Asia.

Flyways is a musical celebration of the migration of half a billion birds along the Great Rift Valley from Eurasia through the Middle East to South Africa and back. Flyways will chronicle this extraordinary journey, using music of the cultures of the 22 countries over which the birds fly, interwoven with the actual voices of migrating birds, including cranes, eagles, bee-eaters, thrush nightingales, and many others.

"Migrating birds know no boundaries" is the theme for the project, which involves musical collaborations across cultures, concerts, and an educational program to raise awareness, awaken awe and wonder, promote peace, and assist the work of a range of local conservation and cultural organizations throughout the region. The Flyways project also supports efforts to designate the Great Rift Valley as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, bringing together in common cause the 22 states of the Great Rift Valley.

Winter, the winner of five Grammy awards, has been motivated for the past thirty years by the vision of a musical-ecological community, and has followed a steady course towards his unique 'Earth Music', a vital celebration of the creatures and cultures of the whole earth. Music for the Earth was founded in 1976 by Winter as a way of using the power of music to achieve conservation, social justice and other ends.

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Tel Aviv is offering a better value for money for travelers than the most of the countries of the eurozone, according to Economist Intelligence Unit's latest Worldwide Cost of Living survey.

Western Europe accounts for the overwhelming majority of the world's most expensive cities, as London (4th), Copenhagen (3rd) and Paris (2nd) have all overtaken Tokyo in the last 12 months to join Oslo as the world's most expensive destinations. Moscow (26th) is now more expensive than New York (28th), the most expensive destination outside Europe and Asia. Tel Aviv, Israel, is rank 47 in the EIU cost of living ranking table.

“Those travelling on a budget would do well to avoid Europe,” said Jon Copestake, the survey's editor. “The strength of European currencies plays a large part, but prices in Europe are also rising whereas those in Japan have been almost static."

Worldwide Cost of Living, the bi-annual Economist Intelligence Unit survey, compares prices and products in over 130 cities around the world. Only five cities in the Middle East and Africa saw the cost of living increase compared to destinations around them. Apart from Tel Aviv most of these were in Africa. Tehran, in Iran, presents the best value for money in the world.

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The number of tourists entered Israel in 2006 decreased by 4.5% to 1.83 million, from 1.91 million tourists in 2005, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.

The first six months of 2006 showed an increase of 22% to over 1 million tourists, compare to the same period in 2005. But the outbreak of the Lebanon war in July 2006 leads to a drop of 27% in July-December to 0.76 million tourists that entered Israel.

The United States was the largest source of visitors to Israel. 494,000 tourists arrived from US in 2006, 8% more than a year earlier. 161,000 arrived from the UK, 3% more than in 2005.

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Israel can achieve 4-5 million tourist arrivals by 2011 if it would focus on improving long-term marketing, infrastructure, attracting investors and adopting a more liberal aviation policy, according to a report by international consulting firm Ernst & Young (E&Y).

The study about the Israeli tourism industry points out that investing $50 million a year on marketing Israel as an attractive travel destination will produce a $447 million a year in new revenues from foreign tourist arrivals. This would also be a major catalyst of growth for Israel economy, by boosting the GDP by $3.5 billion and creating 45,000 new jobs in Israel.

According to the Ernst & Young's optimistic estimates, Israel has a potential to bring 18 million tourists from eight major markets: the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Sweden, and then on Russia and China. Currently, only 1.2 million visitors come to Israel from those countries every year.

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Air Madrid will offer charter service linking cities in South America to Israel via its hub in Spain. The announcement of the Spanish low fare airline means an additional 25,000 available seats on flights between South America and Israel.

Air Madrid began operations from Spain in April 2004 and has expanded its network to include flights from Madrid to 11 destinations in Central and South America plus Tenerife and from Barcelona to four South American destinations and Tenerife.

The Spanish company transports approximately one million passengers annually between gateways in South America and Spain.

In 2005, 95,000 tourists arrived in Israel from Latin America, 50% more than in 2004. The number of visitors from Spain to Israel more than doubled to 52,000.

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