BY DENNIS GADIL

TOURISM officials and travel operators are hoping for an increased tourist traffic between Israel and Manila with the inauguration of  a ‘Holocaust’ shrine in Israel to honor European Jews who fled to Manila and the Filipinos who took them under their wings in the 1930s.

Currently, trade between the Philippines and Israel is only at $200 million annually and the contribution of tourism is hardly making a dent.

Philippine and Israel tourism officials said the inauguration of the "Open Doors monument" in Israel’s fourth largest city of Rishon LeZion could open up a new era in the tourism relations between the two countries, hoping a boom in travel in both nations.

Robert Lim Joseph, chair of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies Inc.(Naitas), said Filipino tourists have been going to Israel to visit the Holy Land but only few Israelis are coming to experience the "sights and sounds" of the country.

He said Israelis might also be interested to make sentimental journey to the Philippines because it provided refuge to European Jews from Nazi persecution in the 1939s, which the Holocaust shrine will prove.

Joseph said this page in the nation’s history shows that Filipinos are not only hospitable but are also steadfast friends.

He said some of these Holocaust refugees, who arrived in waves and on various dates, have gone back to Israel and might be interested to return to the country to reminisce.

Joseph said Europe-based Jews who have relatives in Israel  could also be persuaded to visit the country.

He said  the  late Ambassador to Israel Antonio Modena, a former journalist, worked for the erection of the monument in Israel after reading the 2005 book "Escape to Manila ", written by one of the Jew refugees in the Philippines, Frank Ephraim.

In his book, Ephraim said his group of 1,200 Germans and Austrian Jews arrived in Manila from Berlin onboard a ship, which docked in Manila port on March 16, 1939.

Ephraim also wrote that he fondly remembers Sunday visits to Dewey Boulevard now known as Roxas Boulevard.

The Holocaust survivor said there was even a plan to put up a Jewish resettlement in Mindanao. As early as 1938, it was said that a group of Jews went to Davao and considered setting up camp in Cotabato province.

Joseph said following the unveiling of the monument this month, a group of travel agents accredited by Naitas will be going to Israel late August or early September  for "tourism road show" and develop new tour packages that are expected to boost reciprocal travel between the two countries.

The Open Doors monument was unveiled June 21 by Tourism secretary Ace Durano. The marker recognized the "courage, hospitality and determination of the Philippine government through President Manuel L. Quezon to give humanitarian support from the Holocaust in the 1930s."

The monument, showing modern conceptual doors, was designed by acclaimed Filipino artist Jun Yee. According to Yee, "The rising design of the open doors represents ‘soaring in triumph.’ One cannot imagine a more fitting symbol for this occasion than the Open Doors, dramatically and contemporarily designed."

Philippine marble tiles from Romblon were used for the monument, along with metal sheets and reinforced concrete for the base.

The commemorative project took four years to complete with the help of Israel and Filipino business groups.

Last year, tourist arrivals rose 1.5 percent to 3.14 million and was widely attributed to a big increase in arrivals from European markets such as Russia, up 34 percent in 2008, and France, up 18.7 percent.

Tourist inflow from the Middle East such as Israel has yet to register in the tourism radar screen of the country.

Israel, a country in Western Asia located on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, has attracted a total of 50,000 Filipinos, most of them are working as caregivers.

Of  the 50,000 Filipinos now residing in Israel, 20 thousand entered the country "illegally."

The volume of trade, on the other hand, between the Philippines and Israel hardly grew since 2006, with the balance in favor of Israel.

This imbalance could be attributed to the fact that the country import high-value electronic products while the Philippines export  giftwares, handicrafts and furniture.

Although the Philippines-Israel trade balance is still in favor of Israel by a large margin, Israel remains to be the fourth largest trading partner of the Philippines in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.