(Communicated by the Israel Ministry of Tourism)

Beginning Wednesday, March 9, 2016,  the Ministry of Tourism will open the Israel exhibition stand at ITB in Berlin, the world's largest travel trade show. Around 11,000 representatives from 180 countries are expected to participate in the 5-day show, and it will host around 180,000 visitors including representatives of the tourism industry worldwide, journalists, and others. Around 180 Israelis will travel to Berlin to participate in the show.

Director General of the Ministry of Tourism, Amir Halevi: "Tourism to Israel has become cheaper and more attractive. This year at the show we will display the range of possibilities for today's tourist who takes a city break in February from the snow in Europe to 25 deg C (77 deg F) in Israel, who is looking for low cost flights and hostels, but also sleeps in luxury hotels and dines in the trendiest restaurants and visits the markets, all on the same trip."
 
The Israeli exhibition stand is spread over 690 square meters, and representatives of the Israeli tourism industry will be in attendance, including hoteliers, travel agents, airline representatives, and tourism organizations. This year the Israel stand has been upgraded, and will present the world of Israeli tourism in an innovative, inviting fashion using state of the art technologies, visual means, and plenty of interaction - both on social networks and by offering various activities for visitors.
 
Every year, the Israeli stand is considered an attraction, and this year street theater actors will also join in, and there will be a photography booth and a caricaturist to provide personal souvenirs from Israel. Likewise, for the first time Israeli drag queen Arie Oshri will attend, in cooperation with Tel Aviv Global Administration, that will promote to the LGBT community in Germany the Gay Pride Parade that will take place in June in Tel Aviv.
 
Every year the Ministry of Tourism surprises with a unique attraction, and this year it will be hummus beer that will be produced from chickpea flour especially for the show. The unique beer that links Israeli and German cultures, will be served at the professional tourism meeting to be held by the Israel Government Tourist Office during the conference.
 
Germany is considered one of the world's primary markets, with a highly developed culture of traveling abroad (over 80 million trips annually). Likewise, 40% of German tourists who visited Israel returned for another visit. Germany is the fourth largest source country for incoming tourism to Israel, with a total of 198,000 tourists annually, and has a growth potential in light of the new opportunities for increasing the number of flights and reducing ticket prices as a result of the Open Skies agreement (there are currently around 75 direct flights weekly on the Israel-Germany route).