My name is Jacob (Jake) Berman, and I

represent MLP in Israel and the Philippines.

Why Israel and the Philippines you may ask?
Well, I was born and raised in Israel, and I lived
for 10 years in the Philippines. I am well
connected in both countries to people and
cultures and feel at ease working with the
locals.

I went to Israel for a month recently to learn

about the travel business. I met with some of
the leading tour operators there, talked to a
few travel reporters, Talked to three PR firms,
and talked to Israelis who constantly travel to
many destinations around the world.
1. Israelis love to travel overseas. Israel’s travel market
is very active. In 2016, around 6.5 million Israelis
traveled overseas (total population is 8.5 million);
2. In August 2017, over 1.2 million Israelis traveled
abroad, an increase of about 20% from August
2016;
3. The market for premium tours is constantly
growing;
4. Israel economy is one of the fastest growing
economies in the world (3,8% GDP in 2016)
5. Disposable income keeps rising, so you see more of
it goes to travel;
6. Israelis are looking for new destinations and
adventures, Latin America is on everyone’s bucket
list.
1. Talma Travel & Tours was established in 1987 by Talma & Chaim
Shmul. Today, Talam is considered as the leading TO catering to over
1,200 corporate accounts (wholesale accounts), and expanding rapidly
into the retail market with 23 offices around Israel. The company grew
from $50 million 5 years ago, to $200 million last year, with 270
employees;
2. In 2016, 150,000 travelers booked their travel through Talma.
3. In the past, Talma has not focused on offering Latin American tours,
MLP will be the first direct relationship Talma has in Latin America;
4. Talma, as we speak, is translating and loading up our marketing
materials onto their website under a new section called “Concierge
Services”, targeting the upscale market in Israel;
5. Talma recently completed upgrading their digital marketing services,
separating the wholesale from the retail group, and creating the
concierge services in each group to specifically capture the high-end
market. MLP fits straight in to their marketing strategy.
While in Israel, I also met with some travel reporters who
write for different travel publications. I learned which
publications are read by our target audience, and I plan
to get 2-3 of them to take the Grand Andean Experience
and write about it in selected travel publications. I also
met with a PR firm that is serving the travel sector in
Israel. Before I engage a PR firm, I want to see what type
of campaign Talma is planning to do to promote MLP. On
the agenda is organizing an event in Israel, invite the
Peruvian ambassador, the Israeli tourism minister, the
media, other tour operators, as well as some public
influencers.
The Philippines is another market I know well. There are
over 105 million Filipinos today of which a small
percentage is in the very wealthy category. The very
wealthy category has been traveling around the world,
and always look for new and exciting adventures to
experience. When I was telling my friends about MLP,
every one of them said they want to do the trip next
year. After conducting this very “scientific” research
methodology, I asked friends to introduce me to a good,
reliable tour operator that caters to the high end crowed,
so I was introduced to Javier Berenguer-Testa, Director of
Sales, Mondial Tours. Mondial caters to the high-end
market and Javier is excited to promote and market
MLP’s tours in the Philippines.

I am in the first stage of the process, and hope to get

things ramped up by the end of October.