While Israel continues its attacks on the blockaded Gaza Strip since October 7th, there is a significant decline in the number of tourists visiting the country, leading to a contraction in the tourism sector.
While Israel continues its attacks on the Gaza Strip and intensifies conflicts with Hezbollah on the Lebanon border since October 8th, coupled with an escalation of violence in the West Bank, tourists are avoiding the country.
Since the beginning of Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip in October, the tourism sector has experienced a sharp decline.
Issues with flights to and from Israel began in the early days of the attacks, with more than 40% of flights in the same direction being canceled between October 7th and October 19th.
In October, when Israel intensified its attacks, tourism activity in the country decreased by 76% compared to the previous year.
According to the monthly report of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, approximately 89,700 tourists visited Israel in October. Most of these visits took place in the first week of October before the attacks began. In contrast, October of the previous year saw 370,000 tourists visiting Israel.
Data from the Ministry of Tourism reveals that the number of tourists visiting Israel in November this year dropped significantly from around 370,000 in the same month last year to only 38,000.
Despite aiming to break recent records in tourist numbers globally following the pandemic, the Ministry's figures fell far short of this goal.
The goal of reaching 4 million tourists this year has become challenging, as the number of tourists remained at 38,000 in November, despite approximately 3 million tourists visiting the country until that month. Israeli officials expressed the difficulty of achieving the '4 million goal' due to the sharp decline in tourist numbers.
Anat Shihor-Aronson, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism, stated on the JNS (Jewish News Syndicate) website, 'We were reaching the 4 million mark, but the war started, and everything came to a halt.'
Shihor-Aronson, while evaluating the situation by saying, 'Now we are preparing for the aftermath of the war,' did not provide any information about the end of the attacks.
Hotels in Israel, where the number of tourists has significantly decreased, are currently hosting Israelis evacuated from various regions of the country since October 7th.
Due to the attacks in Gaza in the south and on the Lebanon border in the north, 200,000 people were evacuated, with 130,000 of them relocating by the decision of the Israeli government.
Of those evacuated by government decision, 80,000 people are staying in hotels, while others are residing in different places with 'accommodation allowances.'