The tourism sector in Israel incurred a loss amounting to 19.5 billion shekels ($5.25 billion) within a year of the aggression on the Gaza Strip and its repercussions in the region, according to what the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported.
Losses in the international tourism sector amounted to 18.7 billion shekels ($5.04 billion), while losses in the domestic tourism sector amounted to 756 million shekels ($204 million), especially in northern Israel, according to figures quoted by the newspaper from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
Displacement management
The Ministry manages the process of population displacement during the war, especially in the north in the areas near the Lebanese border and in the south near the border with Gaza, in addition to its jurisdiction.
The ministry stated that about 853,000 tourists entered Israel, with those coming from the United States, France, Britain, Russia and the Philippines topping the list. Two-thirds of the visitors (62%) were Jews, and 29% were evangelical Christians or Catholics.
According to data reported by the newspaper, nearly half of the visitors (44%) came to visit friends and family, 28% were tourists, and 13% came for work.
Data from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism stated that 68,712 residents – most of them from the north – are still displaced from their places of residence, and about 15,600 of them are living in hotels, while 53,113 displaced people are living in other places of residence.
The Ministry estimated the cost of housing the displaced at approximately 5.45 billion shekels ($1.5 billion), which was transferred to nearby hotels, noting that an additional 3.18 billion shekels ($859 million) were paid directly as living grants to the displaced who chose to live in places other than hotels.
The cost of displacement within Israel
The cost of the displacement of 100,000 residents from direct war zones amounted to 8.648 billion shekels ($2.34 billion), including 5.46 billion shekels ($1.5 billion) in hotel expenses.
The Ministry has reserved about 4 million rooms and 13.5 million nights of accommodation.
An additional 3.2 billion shekels ($864 million) were paid in the form of residency grants. These grants provide 18,000 shekels ($4,858) per month net for a family consisting of two adults and two children, and are currently the preferred solution for dealing with the displacement crisis, as 53,113 families receive it. These grants, according to the Jerusalem Post, quoted the ministry.
Stop recovery
The ministry added that the war in Gaza halted the recovery of the Israeli tourism industry from the Covid-19 crisis, which hit it hard in 2020.
Expectations are that the year 2024 will end with only about a million tourists entering Israel, that is, a third of the tourists who entered the occupying state last year, and less than a quarter of those entering in 2019.
