Israel has opened its borders to international tourists. However, it won’t be open slather. Israel is keen to revive its shattered tourism industry and give its airlines a boost. But Israel’s border re-opening will be a very controlled process, starting with small groups of tourists.
Israel opens to tourists despite recent troubles
From Sunday, May 23, Israel is letting in a limited number of vaccinated foreign tour groups. This follows last week’s ceasefire between Israel and Palestine that followed another round of violence. That violence included rocket attacks that saw Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport temporarily closed and many airlines suspend flights to Israel.
Sunday’s start date was a line in the sand. Tour groups had to apply online for permission, and Israel will only accept 20 tour groups. Online applications only opened last week, meaning the threadbare tourist inflow into Israel is yet to start.
“We had a very short time to apply, and we received a message that the first 20 had already been approved before we had applied. It was frustrating,” one inbound Israeli tourist operator told The Jerusalem Post newspaper.
This pilot program will only continue for another month. But if it is successful, it may be extended. There’s hope individual travelers will be able to enter Israel from July.
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