Israel travel agency inks UAE package holiday deal after normalisation agreement

Israel travel agency inks UAE package holiday deal after normalisation agreement
An Israeli travel agency has signed a deal with the Emirates' Rixos hotels to provide package vacations just days after the two countries agreed to normalise ties.
1 min read
19 August, 2020
Israelis were previously banned from entering the UAE [Getty]
An Israeli travel agency said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement to launch package holiday deals with Rixos hotels in the UAE, the first such tourism deal after the two countries agreed to normalise ties last week.

Aviation Links, which operates as the Kishrey Teufa agency in Israel, said package vacations to four Rixos hotels in the Gulf state will be available for the Jewish Sukkot holiday in mid-October, Reuters reported.

Israelis have long been banned from entering the UAE, although some with dual nationalities have entered using a second, non-Israeli passport.

The package holidays will use flights operated by Turkish Airlines, Aviation Links said in the absence of direct flights between the two countries.

Israel is preparing direct flights between Tel Aviv and the UAE with permission to fly over Saudi airspace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

US President Donald Trump last week announced that the two countries had agreed to normalise diplomatic relations, making the Gulf nation the third Arab state to make a peace agreement with Israel.

Egypt and Jordan have also signed peace deals with neighbouring Israel.

Fellow Gulf states Bahrain and Oman are also rumoured to be pursuing normalisation with Israel.

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