Israelis love to travel. Perhaps there are a few countries in the world to where Israeli tourists have never gone before. Perhaps it's something genetic. As in the old Soviet joke, when three Jews are joined by a fourth, who says: "I do not know what you are talking about, but we must go!"
Joking aside, the truth is that Israelis travel from early childhood to old age. This small country is one of the first places in the world according to the number of lovers of tourism (in per capita terms).
There is no doubt that, in the very near future, a state to which the flow of the Israeli tourists will rush will be Azerbaijan. At least, everything that has been happening recently indicates that the two countries are not only interested in a mutual exchange of tourists, but are also taking very energetic and effective steps to ensure this finally happens.
We cannot say that today Azerbaijan is such an unknown country for Israel, as it was, say, 10 years ago, when Hebrew-speaking citizens even pronounced its name with difficulty. And only a few knew where it was located.
The situation changed drastically at the time when two organizations, the Azerbaijani Airlines ‘AZAL’ and the Israeli Association 'AZIZ', decided to popularize the Republic of Azerbaijan in Israeli society. They are acting in different ways, but are heading for the same goal, to show Israelis the fabulous opportunities of not-yet-discovered Azerbaijan.
‘Aziz’ held a mass of all kinds of such events during these years in various cities, during which the Israelis became acquainted with the history and traditions, culture and art of Azerbaijan. These exhibitions, concerts, presentations and meetings were organized with support from the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
Groups of Israeli journalists have visited the Republic several times on the initiative and with the direct participation of ‘Aziz’. There were a lot of enthusiastic and very sincere articles in the Hebrew-language press after these trips. "I did not expect anything from this trip,’’ one of them said, ‘’The more surprising it was to realize that everything enthralls me, the nature, the cuisine, the architecture, the people ..."
The delegation, which included mayors, deputy mayors and city council members, went on a tour of Azerbaijan to several cities in July of this year, which resulted in the towns of Afula and Mingachevir becoming twin cities, and soon there will be more such pairings. For example, the mayor of the city of Tirat Carmel returned completely fascinated. "It was a wonderful trip,’’ he says. ‘’Everyone knows that foreign tourists are served perfectly in Muslim countries. But here no one was served, we were received like old friends, who had not been seen for many years and who have been missed. And it's amazing."
However, it is absolutely clear that any, even the greatest impressions of the trip can be either fixed or hopelessly spoiled during the most ordinary trip. And this is where the cause is taken by AZAL, which has made a real breakthrough in the aviation market in recent years.
Bold new solutions enabled the company to become a serious competitor to all the European carriers and achieve credibility among the travel agencies. Today AZAL without any exaggeration can be called the most reliable and fastest-growing airline in the Caucasus. A modern plane fleet, excellent maintenance and the service provided to customers has allowed AZAL to get 4 stars in the rating of the Skytrax independent international audit.
AZAL not only highlights its service and technical capabilities during the competent and thoughtful campaign, but also tells potential tourists about the beauty and rich history of the country in interesting articles in Russian and Hebrew.
Interesting fact: on July 27th at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in the first half of 2015, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev gave concrete instructions to reconsider and reduce the price of air tickets.
How will this affect Israeli tourists? The cost of a ticket has been reduced by 23%, and it is only 343 euros for a round trip.
The intensive work of AZAL and ‘Aziz’ has brought its results, as evidenced by the growing number of Israeli tourists’ requests to travel agencies for tours and air tickets. This means that the warm and friendly relations that exist between Israel and Azerbaijan on the governmental level will have a major reinforcement on the national level.
