Recently, new managers were elected to some of the Ministry of Tourism’s offices around the world. Sarah Slansky, who has served as the manager of the European division, was chosen to manage the overseas division. She has been working for the ministry for 28 years and is the first woman to be appointed to this position.

Eyal Karlin was appointed head of the Tourism Ministry’s North America division. In his last position, he served as acting director of the Overseas Division of the marketing department. He also previously served as the ministry’s representative in Atlanta. Karlin holds a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Tel Aviv University and an MA in Talmud from the Hebrew University.

Gal Hanna was appointed director of the Tourism Ministry’s office in Canada. In his last position, he served as a professional advisor to the Director General of the Ministry. Prior to joining the Ministry of Tourism, Gal was a senior manager of national projects in the deputy director general’s office in the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Ministry of Tourism operates 21 bureaus worldwide: Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Milan, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm, Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Toronto, Seoul, Sao Paulo, Mumbai , Manila, Shanghai and Beijing. The bureaus constitute an operational arm of the Ministry of Tourism in the various countries, and act to promote tourism to Israel in various markets.

Between January 2019 and the end of June, about 2.265 million tourists arrived in Israel – an increase of 9.8% compared to the same period last year. In 2018, 4.1 million tourists arrived in Israel – an increase of about 14% compared to 2017.