The 2022 IMTM – International Mediterranean Tourism Market, opened today for the 28th time in Pavilion 2 at EXPO Tel Aviv. This year, a record number of 700 exhibitors, about 80 pavilions, over 40 countries and about 30 ambassadors from around the world came to the exhibition. Among the delegations that participated in the exhibition this year: Morocco, the Philippines, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Colombia, Greece and Italy.
The red ribbon cutting ceremony, which symbolizes the opening of the exhibition, was held in the presence of: President of Israel – Isaac Herzog, Minister of Tourism – Yoel Razvozov, Director General of the Ministry of Tourism – Danny Shachar, outgoing Director General of the Ministry of Tourism – Amir Halevi, President of the Hotel Association – Avi Nissenkorn, Mayor of Tel Aviv – Ron Huldai and the initiators of the IMTM International Tourism Exhibition – Eyal Shmueli and Lior Gelfand.
President Isaac Herzog: “It is a pleasure for me to join you here in the International Mediterranean Tourism Market, and finally to personally welcome the agents and officials of tourism in our region and abroad. It is essential that the State of Israel takes all necessary steps to revive and lead tourism to new heights, even beyond past heights before the COVID-19 plague. I hope the Abraham Agreements will bring new tourists to Israel. I have real faith in this sector, so I am optimistic about its future. I wish you all a fruitful and enjoyable event, and great success in your important work.”
Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov: “A lot has changed since the last conference two years ago. It was and remains a very challenging period for the tourism sector because of the COVID-19. The tourism industry was the first to close and the last to return. To my Israeli colleagues – I understand your challenges and I take them seriously, we work very hard to help this sector. We need to work together so that the tourism system returns to full recovery. I am happy to update that I spoke with Prime Minister Bennett before the conference, and we agreed that the option of closing the sky is not on the table”.
President of the Hotel Association, Avi Nissenkorn: “Israeli tourism is recovering from the COVID-19 epidemic, we are beginning to see tourists returning to Jerusalem, the Galilee, Nazareth and all the tourist places in Israel. The tourism industry is a significant component of the Israeli economy and Avraham agreements. In the last two years, despite the many difficulties the period has provided us, new hotels have been built and new guest rooms added. The increase in the number of rooms available to tourists is not surprising, and is in line with Israel’s tourism potential”.
Eyal Shmueli, IMTM 2020 International Tourism Exhibition producer: “We are pleased to open the 2022 IMTM International Tourism Exhibition for the 28th year, after two years in which the exhibition was postponed due to the Corona virus. All representatives of the world and Israel are very excited to participate and are returning to full activity at the international level. This year we were honored by dozens of senior officials from Israel and the world, and attended a record number of about 30 ambassadors. The IMTM exhibition proves every year, especially today after the tourism industry was almost completely paralyzed, that Israel is a major point in the global tourism industry”