It’s been hard for Israeli guys the last ten years. Their idea of a dream woman, the blond, fair-skinned Scandinavian (go on, ask any Israeli guy what he think constitutes the perfect woman – I guarantee 95% will go for a Swedish/Norwegian/Danish girl), has been a bit of a scarcity, basically ever since the Second Intifada kicked off ten years ago and the leading Scandinavian airways (SAS) closed down their once daily flights to Tel Aviv…
It’s been a long, hard ten years, but this past week saw the news that flights from the Nordic states are on their way back! Starting this week, November 1st, direct flights from Denmark are starting up once more. Cimber Air will be flying three times a week, and the amazing news is that flights for the next three months are almost fully booked.
With other flights from Scandinavia also excepted to be announced in the near future, Israeli guys can once again breathe easily and dig out their Speedos.
It’s been an impressive year for tourism, as we already know, with a record year almost guaranteed, barring any last minute regional war (ahem…). Even without the new direct flights, tourism from Scandinavia has been up some 25% this year.
Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov is thankful for the blond lads and lasses making things a little easier on the eyes, although he disguised his enthusiasm well:
The Tourism Ministry will continue its marketing efforts in 2011 to bring back the tourism traffic from Scandinavia to Israel, as main source countries for incoming tourism. The activities of the Tourism Ministry in recent years have succeeded in expanding demand, increasing seat capacity and the wholesaler infrastructure, as well as the confidence of the tourists themselves. In addition, the ministry will participate in tourism fairs and seminars, as well as advertising campaigns targeted at different market segments.