El Al now offers five flights a week from HK as tourism and business travel increases
Air links between Israel and Hong Kong are becoming increasingly vital as business ties with the mainland, as well as tourism, gather pace.
Over the past three years, the israeli flag carrier El Al has expanded the number of flights between the two countries to eight a week - three from Beijing and five from Hong Kong.
Nissim Ben Atar, general manager of Asia and Oceania for El Al Israel Airlines, said some of these were business trips, but increasingly Hongkongers and mainlanders were seeing Israel as an attractive tourist destination.
Passenger numbers have increased by 90per cent since 2005, and last year 28,000 passengers flew from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv, according to El Al.
China and Israel recently signed an Approved Destination Status agreement that designated Israel an 'approved destination' for Chinese tourists and paved the way for a huge increase in tourism from the mainland.