Gaza war plunges Israel’s tourism industry into crisis

Israel's deadly war on the Gaza Strip has plunged the country's tourism industry into a new crisis, with tourist inflows drastically reduced.

The Israeli army launched a destructive onslaught on Palestinian territories following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,534 Palestinians have since been killed and 71,920 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

As Tel Aviv continued to pound the Gaza Strip for the 150th day now, many airlines have suspended their flights to Israel.

According to an Anadolu tally based on figures released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, around 180,000 tourists visited Israel in Q4 of 2023, down from 930,000 tourists in Q4 of 2022, indicating an 81.5% decline.

When the Gaza conflict broke out in Oct. 2023, over 89,007 tourists visited Israel, a 73% decrease from the previous year's 333,005 visitors.

In November, the number of tourists visiting Israel reached 38,003, down from 333,007 in November 2022, with a drop of 78.5%.

A total of 52,008 tourists visited Israel in Dec. 2023, down from 266,002 tourists in Dec. 2022, indicating an 80% decline.

In 2023, approximately 3 million tourists visited Israel, down from 4.5 million in 2019.

Tourism accounts for about 3% of Israel's economy and employs around 200,000 Israelis directly, according to the Tourism Ministry.

Israel was expecting to receive 5.5 million visitors in 2023, one million more than the previous record set in 2019.

However, Yossi Fattal, director of the Chamber of Inbound Tourism Organizers in Israel, expressed concern last month about the Gaza conflict's impact on the country's tourism industry.

Fattal told Maariv newspaper that 250 airlines operated in Israel before the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, but only 45 companies now operate, resulting in isolation comparable to that of North Korea.

"This has made Israel one of the most isolated countries in the world, with only 20% of flights operated by airlines other than Israel's El Al," he said.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.