Five months of war: Tourists stay away from Israel

In good times, Israel and the Palestinian territories could hardly escape tourists. Now most of them are staying away – and Israel’s government is relying on other visitors: Christian pilgrim groups.

Being almost completely alone in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. This is the dream of many pilgrims, and in fact the church is often almost deserted these days. For the few visitors, Jerusalem shows its quiet side. For the traders in the old town, the situation is an economic catastrophe. Since the terrorist attacks of October 7th and the start of the war in the Middle East, hardly any visitors have come from abroad.

Machmud Kurdiye is one of the few traders who are even open this morning. His family has been selling jewelry here for 80 years, primarily to tourists. The Palestinian says he currently only makes between 50 and 100 shekels in sales per day. That’s just twelve to 25 euros. “Things have changed a lot,” he says, comparing his situation as a retailer with the Corona period: “When you open your shop and don’t sell anything, it’s frustrating. At the beginning we thought that this war might last a month or so will last two months. But now it’s already five months and we don’t know when it will end.”

Israel and parts of the Palestinian territories usually attract many tourists. According to government figures, 271,000 tourists entered Israel in January 2023. A year later there were only 59,000 – about a fifth.

There are hardly any employees Sources of income

For some hotels there has been an alternative source of income since October 7th. They house Israelis who have been evacuated from the north or south of the country because of the war. But the government aid programs are set to gradually expire. The Israeli state is now hoping for a turnaround and wants to bring about this with a stand at the ITB tourism trade fair in Berlin.

Tourism Minister Haim Katz also traveled to Berlin. A few weeks ago he spoke in the southern states of the USA, because Israel relies on very special travel groups: Christian pilgrims and evangelical volunteers who come even in times of crisis. According to the Israeli tourism minister, 2024 will be a year of faith and solidarity tourism.

Georg Röwekamp runs the German pilgrim house in Tabgha on the Sea of ​​Galilee. He confirms that groups of pilgrims are among the few guests during this time – “but not from Germany,” he says. “Because there is still a travel warning at the moment. And that means that travel is quite difficult in terms of insurance.” There are more guests from other countries: “We have an American group in the house right now, and I’m also hearing about Indonesian and Mexican groups, for example.”

Tabgha is located in the north of Israel and therefore close to the border with Lebanon. There are currently daily fighting there. There have been almost no guests in the pilgrim house since October, says Röwekamp: “We had to send many employees home who now have no opportunity to earn money. So this is a critical situation for us.”

Israel is worried about its image

Representatives of the Israeli tourism industry are now putting pressure on airlines to finally resume flights or increase their capacities. But where there is no demand, flights are not worth it.

And so Israel is worried about tourism revenue – but also about its global image given the images of destruction in the Gaza Strip and reports of starving Palestinians.

Yossi Fattal, general director of an Israeli travel association, told TV Channel 13: “The tourists who come to us are one of the most important factors in restoring Israel’s image. Those who come here will be the only ones who can testify that we are normal are.”