--- title: Israel Trips in $220k Oscars Swag Bag description: The 10-day luxury trips are worth $55,000. canonical: https://time.com/4217355/israel-oscars-swag-bag/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-11T16:30:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:00:09.015Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: This Year's Oscars Swag Bag Comes with a Free Trip to Israel og:description: The Ministry of Tourism is giving nominees 10-day luxury trips. og:url: https://time.com/4217355/israel-oscars-swag-bag/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a6bc2268bec72ec/69887d3e196cf4bddb03a4a8/academy-awards-swag-bags-israel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: academy awards swag bags israel og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Year's Oscars Swag Bag Comes with a Free Trip to Israel twitter:description: The Ministry of Tourism is giving nominees 10-day luxury trips. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a6bc2268bec72ec/69887d3e196cf4bddb03a4a8/academy-awards-swag-bags-israel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Year's Oscars Swag Bag Comes With a Free Trip to Israel > Sponsored content. 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(Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images)Christopher Polk—Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Feb 11, 2016 4:30 PM UTC The value for the Academy Awards swag bags has shot up to [$220,000 this year](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/11/this-years-oscar-swag-bag-includes-a-55000-trip-to-israel/) — thanks, in part, to Israel. Oscars gift bags for the nominees are [enviable](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/26/the-8-most-opulent-gifts-in-the-oscar-swag-bags/#ixzz2LqfEd9Ns) [every](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/24/a-look-inside-the-oscars-swag-bags-the-9-most-extravagant-gifts/) [year](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/28/oscar-nominees-85000-gift-bag/), as they heap gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars onto some of the few people who may be able to afford the indulgences themselves. This year’s bag is worth [almost $100,000 more than in 2015](http://time.com/money/3712601/what-oscars-cost-hollywood/) and includes Audi leases, lakeside hotel getaways, personal trainers, personalized M&Ms plus an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel, the Washington _Post_ [reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/11/this-years-oscar-swag-bag-includes-a-55000-trip-to-israel/). The Israel Tourism Ministry and the travel company ExploreIsrael.com gifted the $55,000 trips to the nominees for best actress, best actor, best supporting actress and best supporting actor (and they threw in a trip for host Chris Rock). All can bring plus-ones to the 10-day travel pack, which includes first-class air travel into Tel-Aviv and, more importantly, “all the falafel you can eat.” The ministry has been working to attract high-profile visitors, and publicize Israel as a luxury destination rather than merely a conflict zone. The swag bags regularly include [trips abroad](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/26/the-8-most-opulent-gifts-in-the-oscar-swag-bags/slide/premier-tours-african-safari/), but the trips do not usually have the potential of being politicized like free trips to Israel could be. “These are the most senior people in the film industry in Hollywood and leading opinion-formers who we are interested in hosting here in Israel so that they will experience the country first hand and not through the media,” [said](http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/oscars-nominees-pressured-not-accept-free-trip-israel-article-1.2527284) Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin in a statement. Los Angles-based Distinctive Assets released the estimate for the swag bag value this year. \[[_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/11/this-years-oscar-swag-bag-includes-a-55000-trip-to-israel/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4217355/israel-oscars-swag-bag/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4217355/israel-oscars-swag-bag/"},"headline":"This Year's Oscars Swag Bag Comes With a Free Trip to Israel","datePublished":"2016-02-11T16:30:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:00:09.015Z","description":"The 10-day luxury trips are worth $55,000.","url":"https://time.com/4217355/israel-oscars-swag-bag/","keywords":["movies","Israel","Oscars"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a6bc2268bec72ec/69887d3e196cf4bddb03a4a8/academy-awards-swag-bags-israel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a6bc2268bec72ec/69887d3e196cf4bddb03a4a8/academy-awards-swag-bags-israel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"academy awards swag bags israel","caption":"academy awards swag bags israel","creditText":"Christopher Polk—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4217355/israel-oscars-swag-bag/","name":"This Year's Oscars Swag Bag Comes With a Free Trip to Israel"}}]}] ```