A quarter of a million Israeli tourists will come to Thailand this year. This is what Dov Kalman, founder and president of Tarnova, representative of the Thai Ministry of Tourism in Israel, shows. The announcement was made at a ceremony to celebrate 70 years of friendship between Thailand and Israel.
The 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations was celebrated today in two events in Tel Aviv’s City Park. The Thai Embassy in Israel celebrated with booths for tasting kosher Thai food, as they emphasized to my ears, along with a crash course in Thai cooking.
The company ‘Terhanova’ took the opportunity at the same time to hold a kind of farewell party in the city garden for the Thai ambassador in Israel, Panbha Chandraramya, who is finishing her mission in Israel and is going to be returning to her home country soon.
Dov Kalman said at the farewell party: “I have been representing TAT in Israel for twenty years, and in all those years there was no ambassador more active than Panbaha in strengthening relations, and perhaps won’t be. In his congratulatory speech, he also mentioned the great investment of the Thai Embassy in efforts to free the Thai workers kidnapped in Gaza on October 7, which produced successful results. According to him, the ambassador also tried to work on behalf of the Israeli kidnappers, but with less success.
Dov Kalman also noted the performance of the number of tourists from Israel, describing it as a “long-term record”. He said Israel is the country with the highest percentage of visitors to Thailand in the world.
At the end of his speech, Dov presented the ambassador with a souvenir from Israel on a plate with “Time to Love” printed on it, as well as a golden Hamsa stand.
Bangkok Airways representative in Israel, Guy Thaler, also gave the ambassador a farewell gift, and when she opened it to the public, it became clear that ‘Tal Aviation’ had also chosen a hamsa gift.
Ambassador Panbha Chandraramya gave a short speech of thanks, in which she said “I hope Thailand will hold a place in your heart”.
Ambassadors from other Asian countries also came to bid farewell to the Thai embassy. We saw in the audience the Ambassador of Vietnam Lee Duc Trong, and the Ambassador of the Philippines, Pedro Leillo Jr., with the Honorary Consul Boaz Waxman, from Ofir Tours. The Vietnamese ambassador revealed to me that the three Asian ambassadors are looking for ways for tourism cooperation, in creating a tourism product of an itinerary for more than one country.
Boaz Waxman, Honorary Ambassador of the Philippines, with the Thai Embassy, and with Imri Kalman, CEO of Taranova
