Meshek Wings Tours Ltd first Israeli charter flight landed at Henri Coanda International Airport
On May 13, Henri Coanda International Airport, landed the first Israeli charter flight of Meshek Wings Tours Ltd, one of the first 10 tour operators in Israel, operated by Blue Air.
Meshek Wings Tours Ltd will bring about 3.500 Israeli tourists to Bucharest for city break programs between May and August. Meshek Wings also organizes a weekly charter flight with Israeli tourists every Tuesday for mountain stays, plus another weekly flight to the Romanian coast.
All of these programs were designed under the leadership of Meshek Wings Sales Manager Meidan Butnaru, along with his team. The Israeli tour operator plans for 2014 to bring about 8.500 of tourists to Romania, out of which only 3.500 of packages on city break programs for Bucharest, some of which have already been sold. In the Prahova Valley Meshek will bring at least 2.500 of tourists and on the coast it estimates an 2000 number of tourists.
An important thing that helps the Romanian state is the fact that an Israeli tourist spends at least 100 euros per day, having an average stay of 4 days. Thus, it reaches a total of over 3 million euros, and if we consider the other accommodation, transport, etc. we are talking about another 4 million.
“The project is very important not only for the company, but also for our open partners and with the desire to make the established plans. We would like to thank all our partners in Bucharest, Prahova Valley and the coast, and in particular the management of Blue Air, which has given us confidence. The flights are rented by our company, and the commercial part is controlled and managed by us. Our hoteliers and airline partners were always with us. They understood the needs of the Israeli tourist and the good cooperation between us helped us to realize this project. Meshek's promotion of Romania in Israel project has a budget of over 100.000 EURO and is already underway, ”said Meidan Butnaru.
The first flight of this series arrived yesterday, 13.05, with an occupancy rate of 98%, and much of the rest of the flights already have an advanced level of sale. Meshek Wings is one of Blue Air's largest partners, thus relying on the group side, but at the same time continues the collaboration with the national company Tarom.
“Another very important person who contributed to this project is Mrs. Mirela Matichescu, vice president of the National Tourism Authority, who gave us all the support. We can also say about Mr. Răzvan Filipescu, the president of ANT. This is the first time we have the support of the authorities and we are glad that the ANT leadership has a young and ambitious team ”, emphasizes Butnaru.
Meidan Butnaru was born into a family of Romanian origin in Bacău, later established in Israel in the 60 years, but whose members remained Romanian patriots, in turn keeping the tradition and love of the country further. For more than 11 years he has been active in the field of tourism, aviation and university education (professor of tourism and commercial aviation), having several positions in different tourism companies in Israel, where he has worked in several important destinations. In the last years he managed to combine his love for the country of origin with the profession in the field, and in the last 5 years he managed to become a leader in Israel on the Romanian market. Important factors were patriotism and the rapid adaptation of the market, the ability to create new products and the passion for the job. It was not at all easy for a young person, under 30 years, to bring over these years more than 30 thousands of tourists to Romania.
Meidan Butnaru is currently the commercial director of Israel's Meshek Wings, one of Israel's largest tour operators, which is part of the Tacam concern - with more than $ 1 billion a year in business.
Meshek was selected in the first 10 major tour operators in Israel 3 years in a row, maintaining this position even today. Meidan Butnaru, along with the general manager Shlomi Kadim, with extensive experience in tourism, believes in the Romania project. "This project brought us today in the situation of being able to develop an older dream, that of creating in Romania an important destination for Israeli tourists, because the relations between the two peoples are very good and the distance between countries is a very one small, especially on the air path ”, believes Meidan Butnaru.
Top attractions in Bucharest for Israeli tourists:
1. Historical centre. It is lively, it gives the atmosphere of Little Paris.
2. Herastrau park. Israeli tourists are fascinated by this park, considering that they do not have, in their country, green spaces and lakes on large areas.
3. Folklore evenings (restaurants like Pescăruş, City Grill, Voievodal Restaurant, etc.). These restaurants also offered attractive prices because they understood that leisure tourists do not spend as much as business tourists.
4. Shopping. I particularly like malls, such as AFI Palace, Promenade, etc.
Israeli tourists preferences for Romania destination:
1. Young people - prefer the resort Mamaia and Bucharest, because of the fun opportunities (especially clubs)
2. Families / couples - prefer organized tours and city breaks.
3. Seniors - Circuits, mountain stays.
Israeli tourists choose the destination either with 1-2 months in advance (such as the trade unionists), or last minute (generally individuals). The promotion of a country must be strong in order to influence the trade unionist.