Chinese eye Israel's tourist industry

PM and Chinese delegation Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom
PM and Chinese delegation Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom

A Chinese delegation to Israel spoke of buying Israeli hotels, and increasing venture capital investment.

Government sources in Jerusalem told "Globes" that hotel chains from China are interested in buying hotels in Israel.

Figures presented during the visit of a high-ranking delegation from China last week indicate that Chinese investments constituted one third of foreign investments in Israeli high tech companies in the past year. According to the data, Israeli venture capital funds with the participation of Chinese investors raised $750 million in 2015 compared with $500 million in 2014. In 2015, Chinese investors invested $467 million in Israeli startups, compared with $302 million in 2014.

This visit was a follow-up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's China visit in 2013 and the cabinet's 2014 decision to promote economic relations between the states. It had been organized by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), an entity which parallels Israel's National Economic Council, is directly subordinate to China's prime minister and coordinates trade relations between states. Last week, the Chinese delegation, which included about 200 representatives, met with Prime Minister's Office Director-General Eli Gruner, his deputy Yossi Katribas and prominent Israeli businessmen.

Among other things, the Chinese visited the Volcani Center and innovation centers and gained an impression of Israel's high tech companies and medical technologies. In the field of agriculture, the visitors were interested in buying a technological envelope for Heilongjiang Province dairy farms and in a water-related project that will involve the use of desalination and irrigation technologies in Shandong Province, to be financed by the Chinese. During the visit, 15 agreements were signed between Israeli and Chinese companies.

One of these agreements was a framework agreement for the construction of Hapoel Tel Aviv's new soccer stadium in Bat Yam by China Machinery Engineering. Further agreements included the establishment of an agricultural project; consultation and cooperation agreements between the Israeli firm GLK, led by former Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor Chief Scientist Dr. Yehoshua (Shuki) Gleitman and Chinese investment entities, for the establishment of biotech and digital healthcare ventures in the city of Guangzhou; an agreement signed by the Israeli company Agent Video for the establishment of an innovation center; and three agricultural agreements signed by the Acumen Group and smaller Israeli companies to develop agriculture projects.

Israel provided third largest number of tourist visas for Chinese visitors

The leap in tourism from China has been attributed to the introduction of direct flights from China to Israel and making on tourist visas easier to obtain (Israel provides the third largest number of visas to Chinese tourists, after the US and Canada). The source estimates that the current objective of 100,000 Chinese tourists in 2017 might be too conservative.

Sources in Jerusalem say that the visit of the Chinese delegation constitutes a leap forward in China-Israel economic relations and remarked, among other things, on the signing of a memorandum of understandings and establishment of a mechanism in which the parties will conduct two annual meetings, one in Israel and one in China.

Gruner told "Globes", "We are seeing the outcome of the prime minister's policy of opening up to the East. The Chinese believe that we have unparalleled technological and agriculture capabilities and they come here to learn. For us, this presents a golden opportunity to open a door to China's markets for Israeli companies and entrepreneurs."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 6, 2016

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016

PM and Chinese delegation Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom
PM and Chinese delegation Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom
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