Israel Update: In Wake of Violence, a Smattering of Cancellations

Tour operators and travel agents reported a smattering of cancellations and postponements for travel to Israel in the wake of eight days of recent fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Even before a cease fire was announced on Wednesday, bookings for future travel—including trips scheduled right after Thanksgiving—were holding firm, and tour operators said they were planning no changes to scheduled departures.

Taking it day by day
Israel specialist Susan Weissberg told Travel Market Report that “clients are not cancelling, but those scheduled to leave in a few days have postponed their trips.”

“We also have numerous bookings for departures between the end of November and Dec. 8. Christmas and New Year’s is our busiest time of year, and no one has cancelled,” said Weissberg, president and CEO of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Wyllys Professional Travel, an Ensemble agency.

“We’re just working it on a day-to-day basis, but the situation seems to be improving with Clinton and Morsi there,” she said on Tuesday, referring to efforts of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to broker a cease fire.

Weissburg said she was telling clients to “take a deep breath.”

“What they see going on in Gaza is not indicative of what’s going on in the rest of Israel. I speak to Israel every day, and I would never put clients in harm’s way.”

For travelers, ‘a day like any other’
Israel Tour Connection had a small number of cancellations. But it also has seven groups scheduled to depart right after Thanksgiving and 15 tours scheduled during the Christmas vacation and “not one has cancelled,” according to COO Marlene Ritter.

“I have people there now,” Ritter added. “They are up in the north of Israel. I called them and they were deciding where to go out to dinner. It was a day like any other; no one is hiding in their kitchens. That’s the way Israel works.”

Israel Connection has offices in the country so it can revise itineraries on-site. “We just move people around,” said Ritter. “There’s so much to see that if we have one thing scheduled we can revise it to see something else. No one is panicking; we’re holding and waiting.”

Departed on schedule
The Globus family of brands also had clients in the country on a faith-based Globus tour that departed on Nov. 18.

Steve Born, vice president of marketing for the Globus family, said the company gave clients several options for refunds or postponements before the religious tour departed.

“Just two couples got a refund; they didn’t postpone only because they couldn’t commit to new timing. But the rest chose to go ahead.”

Another Globus tour to Israel, a secular program, completed its trip the week of Nov. 12. Globus’ next departures for Israel trips are scheduled for February.

Anticipates no interruptions
“We are planning on operating without interruptions for future bookings, but we have our operations team monitoring the situation day by day, even hour by hour,” Born said.

“The itineraries themselves are out of the affected region, but we have to monitor what’s going on. Safety is our primary concern.”

Ya’lla Tours had groups in Israel when the bombings started. They’ve returned with “rave reports,” according to president Ronen Paldi. “They said they would go back without hesitation.”

Other Ya’lla groups slated to depart this week have postponed travel. The company is monitoring conditions for several FITs who were scheduled to leave the weekend after Thanksgiving and for others departing over the next few weeks.

“The way it looks now there are postponements for immediate travel, but most year-end travel will remain as scheduled,” Paldi said.

Cycle of violence
“Unfortunately it’s like a cycle, a routine we see of violence every few years,” he added. “I tell clients that what we see in the media is the truth but just the partial truth. The south has been heavily hit by Hamas but this is not an area vastly visited by tourists.”

A key indicator of the nature of the current situation is that flights are full and operating normally, said Paldi.

“At any given time there are more than 100,000 tourists in Israel,” he noted. “Daily life goes on, and that’s the same for tourism.”

‘Tourists are touring’
In a statement on Tuesday, IsramWorld owner and CEO Ady Gelber said life was proceeding normally in “most” of the country.

Isram company currently has 784 clients in Israel, including FITs, groups and custom private car tours. “Not one of them has decided to curtail his or her vacation,” Gelber said.

“Tel Aviv’s restaurants, clubs and bars are full to the rafters, and tourists are touring, shopping, napping and beaching,” he said.

Big year for Israel tourism
“The fact is that 2012 is the best year ever for tourism to Israel; there are currently tens of thousands of tourists in Israel and flights are arriving and departing as normal,” Gelber said.

At Globus, Born said, “We’ve experienced explosive growth over the past three years for these programs for the secular and religious markets. We know how much potential there is on both sides.”

Born said Cosmos Vacations, a Globus brand, will introduce an Israel program next year. The tour will include an extension to Jordan.

“You have to look at the long term for travel to Israel,” Born said.