Online tourist giant lastminute.com has teamed with ISSTA (TASE: ISTA) to set up a joint tourist site in Hebrew lastminute.co.il.
In the first stage the site is only offering flights including low-cost and charter flights. This is lastminute.com's first website outside of Europe.
In a press release Lastminute.com said that the site had been "launched in Israel to respond to growing wanderlust demand set by their travel trendsetters." More practically speaking, it said it had chosen Israel because of the high number of people vaccinated there, although it added that talks to bring the brand to Israel had begun before the pandemic.
The arrival of Lastminute.com is not only good news because a major worldwide player has entered the fray but also because the company has opened a representative office in Israel, customers will be protected by local consumer protection laws. Consumers will be entitled to cancel any deal for up to 14 days after making the booking.
Lastminute.com said it expects to sell millions of flight tickets in Israel each year. "The combination of two veteran companies in the sector can bring to the Israeli market something refreshing and the advantages of the trend in a world which is going from offline to online and Lastminute has set itself the target of expanding in the Middle East in 2021."
Lastminute managing director Andrea Bertoli said, "2020 was a challenging year for the tourist industry. Despite this we feel it is the time to get ready for the future and grow in new markets, mainly where we see the first signs of recovery due to the vaccinations. The level of bookings is growing each week in Israel as well as in Britain." ISSTA VP business development Nevo Gal said the establishment of the Israeli site is the first actions of the joint company which is, "in the midst of other measures to expand its activities in the Middle East. The entry of the company of this size to the Israeli market represents a major vote of confidence for the days following the crisis."
The company was founded in 1998 but changed its ownership and brand in 2004 and is traded on the Swiss stock market. Lastminute.com has 60 million users each month and 1,200 employees. It recently took over from Coca Cola as the sponsor of the London Eye.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 10, 2021
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