Gaza war impact negatively on Israel's tourism industry
It was supposed to be a record-breaking year for tourist
visits to Israel .
But all that changed when the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas prompted jittery
travelers to cancel trips en masse, leaving empty hotel rooms and barren
tourist sites in their wake, reports AP.
The summertime fighting delivered a serious hit to Israel 's
thriving tourism industry, causing losses of hundreds of millions of dollars
and sparking concern that aftershocks may continue well after the war.
"Our challenge is how to prevent more cancelations.
Despite a month having passed since the war, there is still an image among
tourists that it is not safe to travel here," said Oded Grofman of the
Israel Incoming Tour Operators Association.
None of the casualties on the Israeli side occurred in the
country's tourist hubs of Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv, which endured rocket attacks but were largely protected by the
Iron Dome missile defense system. Still, gruesome images of the war beamed
around the world scared tourists away. One rocket that landed near Israel 's
international airport spurred American and European airlines to suspend flights
for 48 hours, sending a chill through the local tourism industry.
Before the war, the country hoped for a record-breaking year
for tourist visitors. Since the second Palestinian uprising subsided nearly a
decade ago, Israel
has enjoyed a tourism boom, with as many as 3.6 million foreign visitors to the
country last year. Tourism is now an estimated $5 billion industry and provides
more than 110,000 jobs in Israel .
But the war caused a 31 percent drop in foreign visitors to Israel
during that period compared to 2013, with the decline in August reaching 36
percent. The amount of visitors during that month was the lowest since February
2009, shortly after fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants. Israel 's
Tourism Ministry estimates the losses to be upward of $544 million. A postwar
influx of visitors for the Jewish holidays is expected to bring some relief,
but not enough to salvage a miserable season.
Merchants in Jerusalem 's Old City ,
a top tourist destination, say they are still feeling the sting. The area's
cobblestone streets are typically filled with tourists purchasing chintzy wares
and cheeky T-shirts and visiting the holy sites. But they've been eerily empty
over the summer.
"When the Gaza war
started it just went down," said Kevork Kahvedjian, whose family has run a
shop selling old photos in the Old
City since 1949.
"There were no people at all, none. It was as if there was a curfew or
something." Kahvedjian said his sales declined as much as 90 percent.
Beyond tourists, the war also drove away foreign acts, with
many artists slated to perform this summer — among them Neil Young, the
Backstreet Boys and Lana Del Rey — pulling out. Singer Lady Gaga did end up
performing in front of a crowd of 20,000 people in Tel Aviv, however.
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