With hopes of attracting more Indian travellers from the southern region of India, Israel will open a visa application centre in Hyderabad by October this year, an Israeli official said in August. “We have a lot of demand from the southern regions of India like Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and hence, we have decided to open a visa application centre in Hyderabad,” Ministry of Tourism Director (India and Philippines) Hassan Madah said in Delhi on the sidelines of a roadshow. “In near future, we will open more visa centres in the south,” he said adding that Israel will hold more roadshows in Bengaluru, Cochin and Chennai to attract travellers. In March 2018, Air India launched its direct flight operations from New Delhi to Tel Aviv, the fastest non-stop flight connecting India with Israel, he said, adding that the airline is increasing flights in the route. In addition to this, Israeli airline El Al currently has three weekly non-stop flights from Mumbai to Tel Aviv. Israeli carrier Arkia has also expressed interest to begin operations connecting the two countries, he said.