The Israel tourist board has announced that it is to spend £2 million on an advertising campaign to get Britons holidaying there. The country, which hasn't advertised here for two years - during which time the Palestinian intifada and the Israeli government's response have led to 3,500 deaths - wants to highlight its 'cultural wealth and history as well as its broad religious background' (expect lots of pilgrimage/Holy Land stuff).
You used to see ads all over the place for Eilat, marketed as a siz zling hot winter sun resort in the Red Sea. They were designed to make Eilat appear like an independent place competing against Cyprus and the Canaries, rather than part of strife-torn Israel.
Advertising campaigns linked with attractive prices can work miracles at distancing holiday spots from their negative images. Prepare for the relaunch of Faliraki. Island chiefs have just signed up a British PR agency to reinvent Rhodes aftera 10 per cent drop in tourists this year as families turned to less raucous spots.
Presumably we'll hear so much of the 'cultural delights' of Rhodes, which has the oldest inhabited medieval town in Europe, that we'll be flocking there. (However, I think Israel's comeback might take longer if they try telling us the country is as peaceful as Greece.)
Tarting up tourism images by ad and PR agencies is nothing new. Remember the emergence of real Mallorca (a long way from Magaluf), the real Spain (nothing to do with Benidorm) and the real Cyprus (in the wake of Ayia Napa)? Get set for lots of real Rhodes.
Save skiing - clean up fuel
Last week's warnings that scores of favourite ski resorts in Europe including Kitzbühel, Gstaad, Soll and Megève could be redundant within 30 years because of global warming are a wake up call to us all. Thankfully the danger is finally sinking in with the travel industry now it directly affects their business. (They need to ensure that ski resorts survive so they have something to sell!)
This year's Association of British Travel Agents' conference reflected this enlightenment. Previous agendas have been taken up by such thrilling subjects as 'vertical integration' and commissions.
Demand for winter-sports holidays is rising fast, mainly thanks to cheap flights by low-cost airlines which make self-organised trips easier than ever. Ski trips from the UK surpassed one million last season, a 25 per cent rise over 1999.
The Government is determined to do something about global warming by threatening to double air-passenger duty. It believes that making flights more expensive will halt the boom in flying (though heavy taxation of fuel for cars doesn't seem to have eased traffic jams much). If the tax on a £19.99 flight to Innsbruck doubles from £5 to £10 in EU countries and rises from £20 to £40 elsewhere, will we all be so tempted to travel so frequently?
Global warming will be the biggest travel topic in 2004. Just look at this year's heatwave. Unless the aviation industry and governments get together to develop cleaner fuels - rather than banging on about taxation non-stop - the travel industry is going to implode.
