Where else but Israel? It snowed in Jerusalem just as 200 travel professionals from around the world, including India, Brazil, Russia and the Ukraine, were getting ready to depart the holy city. A spectacular trip was ended with a spectacular event. It doesn’t often snow in Jerusalem but when it does it is an event.

“Being in Jerusalem when it snows is beautiful,” said Eyal Carlin, director, southern region USA, Israel Ministry of Tourism. Carlin was one of the many Ministry officials to help coordinate the FAM trip. He recently moved from Israel to the U.S. “The only downside is roads close. There was a joint effort of the police and tourism ministry to get tourists out. But it’s a challenge,” said Carlin.

The travel professionals represented were agents, tour operators, public relations people, and airline executives. They visited from European countries Scandinavia, Poland, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Austria.

The total number of visitors hit a record high last year at 3.5 million and Carlin expects that number to be exceeded by up to 2 percent in 2013.

The American market is still the top market for sending visitors to Israel. As of Nov. 2013, 570,000 Americans had visited Israel. Carlin expects that number to possibly hit 700,000 by the end of the calendar year.

Across the board, said Carlin, the responses to the FAM trip were positive.

“The Ministry of Tourism spared no expense to offer us a complete understanding of Israel: Hotels, food, site seeing, museums, dance and choir performances and meeting the high ranking officials of each city. The guides accompanied us at all times and had a phenomenal amount of information at their fingertips. They made the sightseeing outstanding,” said Joyce Novick, a travel agent at Virtuoso agency Ovation Travel based in New York City.

PHOTO: Joyce Novick of Ovation Travel, a Virtuoso agency based in New York City, a Virtuoso agency, stands in front of the Dead Sea with the mountains of Jordan in the background.

Novick had been to Israel already - three times, in fact over the last 40 years - but the last time was in 1999. She couldn’t believe the growth that had taken place.

“The changes that Israel has gone through in its 65 years as a state is remarkable. Eilat has gained urban prominence. Tel Aviv continues to build high- rise offices and make the beach area more inviting with large promenades," Novick said.

"Jerusalem has new ways to sightsee: on segues and electric bicycles. The biblical sites continue to go through archeological restoration and impress the visitor with the thousands of years of history. A visit to Israel lifts the spirit."

The group of travel professionals started in Tel Aviv where there were some events hosted by regional tourist boards and cultural institutions.

PHOTO: Michael Lundquist, national group sales manager for the Globus family of brands in Colorado, sits at Caesarea, a Roman city that Herod the Great dedicated to Caesar Augustus more than 2,000 years ago. It was one of the many Christian sites of interest in Israel visited during the recent Israeli Ministry of Tourism-hosted FAM trip.

Then the group split into two and had the option to travel to the north or to the south. The southern itinerary included the Negev Desert and the beach destination Eliat. The northern itinerary included Haifa, Christian sights of interest, and the Dead Sea. Both groups then met in Jerusalem for additional hosted events.

Novick said that Israel is not a major destination for her clientele but when they do want to travel there she sells private Jewish experiences.

After this trip, she’s interested in selling to the Christian market, too.

“I now understand the draw of the Christian Pilgrim tourist. I will start to market Israel differently because the fact is that tourism will grow with the Christian market. It cannot be sustained by Jewish tourists,” said Novick.

That’s one of the purposes for the FAM trip.

Israel is trying to appeal to all types of visitors. The biggest market from the U.S. is faith-based travel but Carlin said they reach out to all kinds of markets for the trip not only leisure: Jewish, Christian, incentive travel, business travel, airline industry representatives.

Michael Lundquist is the national group sales manager for Globus' family of brands - Globus, Cosmos, Monograms and Avalon. This was his first trip to Israel and he left with a very good impression.

“It is such a beautiful country. I felt welcome and safe,” said Lundquist. “The Israeli people were so good to us and the hospitality I was shown was outstanding.”

Globus’ biggest market is faith-based travel.

“Israel is one of the top performing group travel destinations for Globus. We sell Israel to all of our markets, but it is extremely popular destination for our religious travel division,” said Lindquist.

About half of the French and British visitors to Israel are Jewish visitors while the other half are cultural. For German visitors, the motivation to visit Israel is quite mixed.

“European interests in Israel include the desert and ecotourism, sustainable and outdoor adventure that’s more exemplified in the Negev Desert and Eliat,” explained Carlin.

Russia is the biggest growth market for Israel, said Carlin. For Russians, they’re looking for leisure. “It’s not religious. They travel to beach resorts or coastal cities much more than the U.S. visitors. They spend a lot of time in Tel Aviv,” said Carlin.

The FAM trips pay off according to Carlin.

“After the trips, we’ve seen that the success rates are good. People start getting involved with selling Israel. People are raving about meeting the people and the culture, about the culinary style. The Israeli kitchen is rich and colorful. Israel delights all the different senses: sights, smells and tastes,” said Carlin.

Lindquist couldn’t agree more. He most surprised by the quality of the food and wine. “This is definitely a culinary destination. It exceed my expectations,” said Lindquist. “There was a great variety of healthy food at all meals. The red and white Israeli wines were high quality treats.”   

Lindquist thought the pace of the trip was fast but very informative. He’s looking forward to selling Israel to his clients and knows they’ll be able to travel at a more leisurely pace than he did on the FAM trip. Not that he isn’t ready to go back.

“I already want to visit again to see the southern parts of Israel I did not see on this trip,” said Lundquist.