Things apparnetly are boring for El Al airlines so they decided to spice things up a bit. It appears that El Al is openly marketing to European Gays and Lesbians, and hoping to sell them on coming to Israel in June for Gay pride week.

According to Ynet: “According to tourism branch sources, this is the first time El Al takes such a direct and upfront approach to gay tourism, that is courted around the world by travel agencies and airlines due to the great profit potential found among this population.

On average, gay tourists spend more time vacationing than non-gay tourists and are known to be bigger spenders.

The special packages will be marketed in a no less unique way: Thousands of gay Israelis surfing the Atraf dating website were urged to invite their homosexual friends from Europe to vacation in Israel and enjoy an array of events taking place during Gay and Lesbian Pride Month this June.

The events will peak in Tel Aviv’s pride parade, that will be bigger and better than ever this year as part of the city’s centennial celebrations.

If the campaign is successful, hundreds, if not thousands of gay tourists from Europe are expected to flood the city for the first time since the pride parades started.

Tel Aviv’s gay community welcomed the joint initiative with El Al. Travel agent Russell Lord, who specializes in bringing gay tourists to Israel, said on Tuesday, “Since the campaign was launched yesterday, I’ve received many positive responses from gay tourists from Germany, Switzerland, Holland and Greece, and I didn’t believe there would be such quick responses.”

How long do you think it will take for the Israeli Hareidim, or ultra-orthodox, to announce a boycott of El Al? This should be an interesting fight. Stay tuned.

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It’s no secret that the airline industry has issues. Soaring fuel costs, have left airlines scrambling for ways to increase revenues. Instead of just raising fares and cutting capacity, airlines have decided to nickel and dime travelers to death. Just yesterday the Israeli El Al airlines decided to start charging travelers more for seats in an emergency row. This follows other airlines charging for pillows, food, luggage…etc.

Customers are getting fed up with an ever expanding list of fees. In an age where most industries have made their fee structures much more simple, the airlines have decide to drive us crazy. ” Sir, you’d like ice with your beverage? That’ll be 3 bucks.” Or “Miss, I am sorry but since your shoes have high heels, that’ll be $2.”

You know, if airlines really wanted to be fair about each individuals contribution to the amount of fuel used per flight, and then charge accordingly, they could use the supermarket method. When we go shopping, for many items, we pay per pound. Fruits, vegetables, ground beef all priced according to weight. Why don’t the airlines follow suit? Why should someone who is thin, pay the same amount as someone with a bit more girth? After all, our weight-challenged traveler causes more fuel to be used than our thin traveler.

Stop the madness. Just raise fares. It’s that simple.

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Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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