Saudi and Israeli tourism campaigns offer stark contrast in transparency
Public relations firms working to promote travel to foreign countries are all over the map when it comes to lobbying and PR disclosures.
You may have seen her selling a sun-drenched Israeli vacation on your television, your computer or on the side of a bus. In recent years, model Shir Elmaliach has popped up everywhere as the Israeli Ministry of Tourism seeks to sell the country as a hip destination full of beaches and nightclubs rather than biblical relics. Thanks to US lobbying laws, we have some idea of how much the Israeli government shelled out to target Americans with their “Sunny” soundtrack and other tourism pitches: at least $18.4 million in 2018 and more than $14 million so far this year. It’s all part of a major spending boost under Tourism Minister Yariv Levin.
By contrast, Saudi Arabia's push to attract Western tourists as the kingdom opens up to the world has been a transparency desert. While breathtaking landscapes have appeared everywhere from Times Square to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to Instagram influencers' feeds, the cost to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage remains cloaked in secrecy.
The discrepancy underscores the haphazard way that public relations companies — and the foreign governments that hire them — have complied with US lobbying laws, according to Joshua Rosenstein, a lawyer who specializes in the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
“PR companies, ad agencies, consulting firms and the like should get their houses in order and consult competent FARA counsel,” Rosenstein cautioned.
