270 Russian travel agents are visiting Israel to acquaint themselves with the country.   "Holiday Lines" firm is hosting the 270 travel agents, who arrived last Saturday for a week-long visit to familiarize themselves with Israel. Their tour is to include several days in Eilat, where they will see the hotels and the main tourist attractions in the city such as King's City and the Dolphin Reef.  Later they will visit the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv.

Amir Hela, deputy marketing director of Holiday Lines, says that the company recently signed an agreement with leading tourism wholesalers in Moscow to carry out flights from Moscow to Israel, following cancellation of the need for visas between the two countries.  If there had been 190,000 Russian tourists coming to Israel before that change, waiving the requirement for a visa is likely to create an impressive increase in Russian tourists visiting Israel and reach 300,000 persons per annum.

The Holiday Lines company is a leading tourism wholesaler in the area of charter flights and package tours in the Mediterranean Basin and in Europe.  The company markets family packages to 25 exclusive clubs in Antalya, double the number from last year.