‘Israel is safe’: The Druze Israeli telling Canadians to come visit
Israel’s new tourism representative in Canada has arrived in Toronto with a difficult assignment: persuading Canadians that Israel remains worth visiting at a time when war, security concerns and disrupted travel have reshaped tourism to the region.
Taimur Mansour, the Israel Ministry of Tourism’s director for Canada, is betting that Canada remains a promising market — not only because of the Greater Toronto Area’s large Jewish community, but also because of Christian pilgrimage travel, cultural tourism and interest in Israel’s history, archaeology, food and landscape.
Mansour brings an unconventional biography to the job. A Druze Israeli from Isfiyah, on Mount Carmel near Haifa, he studied social work and Asian studies, spent a year studying Chinese in China, taught Chinese in Israeli high schools, and later qualified as a tour guide. Before coming to Toronto in August, he oversaw the ministry’s media and campaigns department in Jerusalem and coordinated a network of public-relations managers.
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His background, he says, allows him to present Israel both as the Jewish homeland and as a country of intersecting religious, linguistic and cultural communities.
Many Canadians are concerned about security and flight disruptions. What do you say to someone considering a trip now?
People from all over the world are coming. Flights are resuming. People still have understandable fears. But I think one of our best ways of working with the community is to show people and talk to them, telling them that Israel is safe.
Why is Canada, and Toronto in particular, an important tourism market for Israel now?
One is because the Jewish community here is one of the largest in the world, and among the most loving of Israel, positive toward Israel, and has a good relationship with Israel.
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