- As fighting between Hamas and Israel continues, the country's tourism industry braces for a slowdown.
- Local businesses and tour guides told Insider they've already experienced mass cancellations.
To celebrate their 20th anniversary this year, Atlanta residents Jessica and David Goldberg booked an Oceania Cruise. The voyage started in Greece and dropped them off in Israel on October 4, where they planned to spend the next week exploring.
The pair were in Israel for three days before they awoke to the sound of sirens and the booming of rockets overhead, they told Insider. The rockets, launched by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, were a part of terrorist attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,300 Israelis. The next day, Israel declared war on Hamas, and more than 4,000 Israelis and Palestinians have died in the days following as the war intensifies. According to data collected by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 16,000 people have been injured so far.
But unlike many travelers, the Goldbergs decided not to cut their trip short and stayed until October 11 — five days after the initial attack by Hamas. They ultimately departed on El Al, one of the few airlines still servicing Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.
"We are, essentially, just inconvenienced American tourists trying to get a flight home," David Goldberg told Insider. "But compared to the horror that's been unfolding around Gaza, our plight is fairly minor in the scheme of things, and we're not trying to make a big deal about it. We're just trying to get home and support Israel however we can."
Like the Goldbergs, thousands of other tourists have departed and their abrupt exits from Israel will mark a massive slowdown for the country's tourism industry — one that local business owners and tourism professionals say they're dreading but are nonetheless prepared to withstand.
As tourists leave or reconsider visiting, local businesses and guides say they've experienced mass cancellations
Wassim Razzouk, who spoke to Insider on the phone from his tattoo shop in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, described a scene reminiscent of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic: By October 9, the ancient city's labyrinthine alleys, typically bustling with visitors and locals alike, had cleared out.
Razzouk, who owns Razzouk Tattoo, a centuries-old tattoo parlor, said that tourists' departures had an immediate effect on his business, with people canceling their reservations for the next few weeks and into November.
Two days after Hamas' attack, Razzouk said about 50 people had already canceled their appointments. He said the shop typically gets a few hundred visitors a month. While he expects a few walk-ins, he predicts many more missed appointments and cancellations, especially as the US State Department has issued a "level three" travel advisory, warning tourists to reconsider travel to Israel. The State Department advises to avoid travel to Gaza altogether.
"This will be a big hit in a time that should have been the peak season, probably of the year," Razzouk told Insider. "October and November, we were expecting to be one of the best times of business."
"This is a big blow for the business — not only for my business but for the whole tourism industry," he continued.
Ziv Cohen, a tour guide from Mazkeret Batya, a small town about 24 miles from Gaza, said his tours for the rest of the month and early November have also been canceled. He told Insider he booked 20 days of tours in October. Cohen said he has one tour scheduled in December, but it seems unlikely any new tour requests will come soon.
"I don't see that a new request will come until the war is over," Cohen said. "So I can only take care of the reservation that exists, and try and convince them to not to cancel immediately, because maybe — it's a small chance — but maybe it will be short," he said, referring to the war.
Cohen and Razzouk said that while they are concerned for their businesses and their welfare, they have bigger things on their mind: their families' physical and financial safety and the people more directly caught in the violence at the Gaza border.
"My survival challenges are small," Cohen said. "Because people lost their world, their families."
The experience is like 'déjà vu' — but the industry is equipped to bounce back, business owners say
Israel remains far from a sense of normalcy. In the wake of the shocking terror attacks, Israelis have repeatedly faced rocket attacks from Gaza while its military trades blows with Hezbollah militants in the country's north. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the fight against Hamas will be "a long war."
Razzouk said the mood of the city felt somewhat like the doldrums of the pandemic but also said that Israel has gotten used to periods of turmoil and has learned to recover quickly.
"We've been hit really bad a few times in our lives, with this country going into conflicts and wars," Razzouk said. "Right away, the first thing that will be affected is the tourism industry, and the last one that will recover is the tourism industry. Now, it's déjà vu."
In 2020, 831,000 tourists visited Israel, down from more than 4.5 million the year before, according to Statista. Visitor numbers were trending closer to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, with 2.5 million tourists entering the country so far this year.
Ben Julius, the founder of Tourist Israel, one of the country's largest tourism organizations, said sporadic slowdowns in tourism aren't uncommon in Israel and the industry is accustomed to bouncing back. While he doesn't think it will take years for the industry to recover from the current conflict, it's a drain on businesses for the time being.
"I think from a tourism perspective is something that we've seen before," Julius said. "The industry knows how to handle these situations. So I think the long-term issue is going to be showing people again, that Israel is safe and it's a good time to come, which is something that we've encountered in the past."
As Israelis cope with the fallout from Hamas' attack, Palestinians face a humanitarian crisis
Last week, Israeli's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, declared the "complete siege" of Gaza, cutting off its electricity, food, water, and fuel.
In the days that followed, the Israel Defense Forces told the UN that the more than 1 million people living in northern Gaza should evacuate within 24 hours — a demand the UN deemed "impossible." According to the US State Department, there are 600 American citizens still in Gaza who have struggled to get out, NBC News reported on October 16. The border between Egypt and Gaza has remained closed, despite diplomatic talks and trapping those inside.
In an October 17 statement, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said "there are daily indications of violations of the laws of war and international human rights law" as Israel's military operations are affecting Gaza's food, water, and medical supplies.
As Insider previously reported, Doctors Without Borders in Gaza — where people under 18 make up nearly half the population — said that many of their patients have been children.
"This is because the majority of the injured in Gaza are women and children since they are the ones who are most often in the houses that get destroyed in the airstrikes," said Ayman Al-Djaroucha, the deputy project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza.