以色列大力發展中國旅遊市場 In Israel a Focus on Chinese Tourists

The Israeli government, still reeling from a drop-off in visitors following last summer’s war with Gaza, is betting on China to jump-start the nation’s flagging tourism industry.

去年夏天加沙地帶的戰爭導致前往以色列的遊客人數驟減，至今仍未恢復，以色列政府現在把賭注押在中國身上，試圖啓動該國萎靡不振的旅遊業。

While visits to Israel from the United States and Europe have plummeted by almost 20 percent since the conflict, Chinese tourism is up by 30 percent, because of a flurry of investments by the Israeli Tourism Ministry to make Chinese visitors feel welcome.

自去年夏天的衝突以來，前往以色列的歐美遊客驟減了20%，但中國旅客增加了30%，因爲以色列旅遊部爲招攬他們進行了一系列投資。

In January, the Tourism Ministry opened a Chinese-language course for its licensed guides and announced that it was in talks with Hainan Airlines, the largest privately owned Chinese air carrier, to begin three nonstop flights a week between Beijing and Tel Aviv. Israel’s El Al airlines currently has a monopoly on Beijing-Tel Aviv flights, so an agreement with Hainan Airlines, which Israel hopes to finalize by the end of 2015, will bring price competition to the route.

今年1月，旅遊部爲持牌導遊開設了中國語言課程，並宣佈它正在與中國最大的私營航空公司海南航空磋商，每週在北京和特拉維夫之間開設三個直飛航班。目前北京到特拉維夫的航班由以色列艾拉航空公司(El Al)壟斷，所以如果與海南航空達成協議，就會給這條航線引入價格競爭機制。以色列希望與海南航空在2015年底敲定這項協議。

The ministry is also wooing Chinese celebrities to its shores — in 2014, the Chinese blockbuster “Old Cinderella” filmed a number of scenes in Israel after receiving a 500,000-shekel investment (about $135,600) from the Israeli government, and the Chinese actor Liu Ye was hosted by the Tourism Ministry and deemed a Tourism Good Will Ambassador.

旅遊部還邀請中國名人前往以色列海濱——2014年，中國大片《脫軌時代》得到了以色列政府的50萬謝克爾（約80萬人民幣）投資，在以色列取景拍攝，旅遊部還款待了中國演員劉燁，讓其擔任旅遊親善大使。

The private tourism sector is also angling for Chinese visitors: This month the David InterContinental Tel Aviv hotel will become the first in Israel to offer Mandarin-speaking staffers, two Mandarin-language TV channels in guest rooms and Chinese food options at their lush breakfast buffet.

私營旅遊部門也在積極爭取中國遊客：本月，特拉維夫大衛洲際酒店(David Inter Continental Tel Aviv)將成爲以色列第一家提供普通話工作人員的酒店，客房裏擁有兩個普通話電視頻道，豐盛的自助早餐中包含中國食品。

Israel’s tourism minister, Yariv Levin, said that he is working to ease visa requirements for incoming tourists from China and to build partnerships with Chinese tour operators.

以色列旅遊部長雅裏夫·萊文(Yariv Levin)說，他正在設法放寬對中國遊客的簽證要求，並與中國旅遊運營商建立合作伙伴關係。

“The State of Israel attaches great importance to incoming tourism from China, and as a result, the Tourism Ministry intends to place special emphasis on China as a developing market,” he said.

“以色列國十分看重來自中國的旅遊業務，因此，旅遊部打算把中國作爲一個發展中市場予以特別重視，”他說。