A native of Israel and former tour guide there for more than a decade, Ronen Paldi opened Ya’lla Tours USA in 1993, inspired by his love for the Eastern Mediterranean region and its people and deep appreciation for the cultures and history. His time spent on the ground with travelers informs all of Ya’lla’s operations. The company began with services to Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Greece and Turkey and added Morocco a few years later after being approached by Moroccan King Hassan II to offer up-scale cultural travel in a country where mass-market tourism prevailed. In 2002, Ya’lla pioneered legal travel to Cuba for Americans and, after recent tightening of travel restrictions, remains one of the few operators still able to offer travel to Cuba that is compliant with U.S. law. In 2014, Ya’lla expanded its product line-up into the Arabian Gulf region, with Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman and has been named an authorized ticket reseller for the Expo 2020 Dubai World Fair.
Ya’lla Tours USA is a boutique tour operator offering private, custom and motor coach touring in Egypt, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Turkey, UAE and Cuba. In 2002, we became one of the first US-based tour operators to offer legal travel to Cuba for Americans. We are currently an authorized ticket reseller for the Expo 2020 Dubai World Fair. With personalized, hands-on service from first inquiry to travel completion and beyond, Ya’lla tours is an alternative to mass-market operators. We consider our dozens of published itineraries as jumping-off points from which to build tailored programs designed in partnership with travel agents and their clients. We work primarily with travel agents. Our published tours are guaranteed to operate with a minimum of two passengers. While we do have some more budget options, most of our products are aimed at up-scale travelers. In general, we use minimum 4-star accommodations.