JERUSALEM — Nearly six months of non-stop Palestinian attacks are dampening prospects for an Easter tourism season that normally provides this historic region a big economic boost.
Israel’s $10-billion-a-year tourism industry never fully recovered from the war with Hamas in the summer of 2014. Now the latest round of assaults is scaring away additional visitors.
Easter, which is traditionally high season, “isn’t looking great,” said Israel Hotel Association Spokesperson Pnina Shalev. “We won’t know the numbers until after the holiday (March 27), but we are concerned.”
Since the Palestinian attacks began in late September, tourism has fallen only slightly — but from already weak numbers. Foreign visits are down 14% from record highs of 2013, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Since Sept. 22, Palestinian attacks have killed 28 Israelis and two American tourists, while 182 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including 135 who Israel alleged were attackers, according to the Associated Press.
"Tourism is an important part of the Israeli economy," said Yaron Ergas, director of research at the Ministry of Tourism. He estimated that the tourism sector has lost $1.5 billion since the war with Hamas, the militant group that governs the Gaza strip on Israel's southwestern border. A barrage of rocket attacks by Hamas prompted Israel to launch a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory.
Administrators of Israel-based educational and volunteer programs say none of their enrollees has left over security fears.
Avi Mayer, spokesman for the Jewish Agency for Israel, which runs dozens of long-term programs for thousands of foreign students, said his agency “has not seen any impact” on participation or registration rates. Jewish Agency programs abide by “very strict” security constraints and “take care not to enter sensitive areas” during field trips, Mayer said.
Margaux Stelman, a spokesperson for Birthright Israel, which brings more than 50,000 young Jews to Israel on free 10-day visits each year, said her organization has not had security-related cancellations.
The organization long ago created a strict security protocol during good and bad times, Stelman said. It checks in with the Ministry of Education’s “situation monitoring room” every day to check for heightened risks. All groups are accompanied by a medic and a security guard.
Hebrew University’s overseas students program has advised its students to avoid the area around Damascus Gate, part of Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter and the site of several stabbing attacks.
“Pam Jaso, a Texan who volunteers at Israeli archaeological excavations twice a year, said she is steering clear of Damascus Gate and the Hebron region of the West Bank, where attacks are common.
As Jaso and some friends prepared to leave the ancient walled Old City through another gate last Friday, police and ambulance sirens began to wail. Within moments, police officers were running into the Arab market in pursuit of someone who had stabbed an ultra-Orthodox Jew nearby.
Despite the commotion, Jaso, who was detained with hundreds of other tourists when police cordoned off the exit, waited calmly and appeared unperturbed.
“I’m used to this but every time an attack is in the news my brother [in the U.S.] calls me, worried,” she said.
Even with this most recent wave of violence, Israel is statistically much safer than many U.S. cities, Jaso said. “I feel safer here than I do in America.”
That’s the message Samira Habash, a Christian Arab shopkeeper in the Christian Quarter, hopes will reach prospective visitors. Habash, whose grocery store business has plummeted 50% since the wave of attacks began, said she is praying for a peaceful and profitable Easter.”
“If it is quiet, tourists will come. We need peace, and not just because we have to make a living," she said. "Life is short.”
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