Written by new-contact on Apr 25, 2013. Posted in On Location

Israel aims for Chinese film tourism boost by supporting Jerusalem-set movie

Israel is hoping to boost Chinese film tourism by supporting the new Jerusalem-set Chinese movie Old Cinderella. The Israeli government has invested USD83,000 in the film and wants to build on a two-year surge in the number of Chinese tourists visiting the country.

“We are investing in marketing, hosting journalists and have opened an agency in China. We want to put Israel on the map there,” Sofia Prizant Pinkas, Head of the Tourism Ministry’s China desk, told Bloomberg.

“They said, ‘Isn’t it dangerous?’ and then I sent photos and blogs back with the Dead Sea and other things and now they say, ‘That is so beautiful - it is an amazing place’,” Old Cinderella’s Chinese star Zhang Jingchu told the outlet: “If we show it on the screen, the audience is going to say ‘Maybe next holiday we will go to Israel’.”

The last two years have seen a surge of almost 50% in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Israel, according to Ministry of Tourism figures seen by Bloomberg. This compares to growth of around 20% for the whole of the rest of Asia and just 3% from Europe.

(Still: David Shankbone)