(Communicated by the Ministry of Tourism)
The Tourism Ministry will host the conference focusing on mobile technologies for improving the tourism experience in Haifa from 11-14 May 2015.
Israel's reputation as the Start-Up Nation led to the choice of the conference theme that will focus on innovation and technology in tourism. The Tourism Ministry is hosting the conference within the framework of its international activities and its efforts to encourage conferences and international seminars in Israel. The initiative to host the conference in Israel came from a meeting between the Tourism Minister Dr. Uzi Landau and his Director-General Amir Halevi and the UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai during the World Travel Market in London about 18 months ago. Both sides expressed a willingness to strengthen ties and increase cooperation.
The aim of the conference, which will include international guest speakers, is to showcase the best examples of interactive apps, tourism augmented reality games, and other unique ways of enhancing the tourist experience.
Participants will include senior figures in the tourism
industry and diplomats from the various countries that are members of
the UNWTO Commission for Europe. These include, among others, the
Tourism Minister of Portugal, the Economy and Trade Minister of Rumania,
the Economy Minister of Macedonia, the Deputy Trade and Tourism
Minister of Serbia, the Deputy Economy Minister and head of the Tourism
Administration of Lithuania and the Deputy Tourism and Sport Minister of
Belarus. The conference includes the annual meeting of members of the
UNWTO Commission for Europe that will examine global tourism trends and
include discussions on issues of key importance to the industry. Within the framework of the conference, the Tourism Ministry will host special tours for the participants in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem. The tours will showcase infrastructure projects in which the ministry has invested, including, among others, the renovations in the Old City of Acre in which the ministry invested over NIS 100 million in the Knights' Halls, audio-visual presentations, holograms, hippodrome, Opera Festival and more.