With the Iran war seemingly over, the fighting winding down in Lebanon, and a semi-ceasefire sticking in Gaza, Israelis are now eyeing the long, hot summer vacation, but this year, like the last two, the traditional tourist season, where millions come from abroad to sample the best Israel has to offer, remains once again on ice.
Most international airlines have yet to return, hotels are filling up but far too slowly, and tour guides – who usually work non-stop through July and August – are getting only the occasional booking. It was like this last summer, following the 12-day war with Iran in June, and in 2024, months after the October 7 massacre, though some had been hopeful that Israeli tourism would make its big return in the summer of 2026.
“It’s a catastrophe,” Yossi Fattal, CEO of the Israel Incoming Tour Operators Association, told The Jerusalem Report in an interview last month.
“We have not seen such a situation here since the state of Israel was founded,” he said.
According to Fattal, whose association represents companies and agencies that bring tourists into Israel from abroad, with few proper flights reaching the country and the situation still unstable despite recent ceasefire declarations, the chances of tourists returning to Israel in the near future are slim.
“The only visitors who are coming at the moment are what we call ‘committed audiences,’” Fattal explained, referring to Jewish people from the Diaspora here to visit relatives and religious groups, mainly Christians, who come for spiritual reasons regardless of the war.
Dwindling numbers
Data from May published by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics show that only 64,400 tourist entries were recorded that month, compared to 376,400 in May 2023 and 440,000 in May 2019. This represents a decline of approximately 83% compared to May 2023 and 85% compared to May 2019.
After October 7, when tourism came to a complete standstill for months, numbers began picking up with 126,800 tourist entries in May 2025 and some 565,300 tourists visiting between January-May 2025. That number fell significantly in the same period this year, with only 356,400 visitor entries being recorded.
“There was a recovery period in 2025, when about 1.3 million visitors, mostly tourists, arrived,” said Fattal.
But now, he added, the most recent conflict with Iran has had broader implications for tourism in the region and beyond.
“It’s like a TV show on Netflix,” Fattal quipped. “The war continues in episodes, and each time they give it a new name, as if something new is happening, but we are essentially in the same crisis, which recently escalated with Iran.”
That war, he said, created disruptions to flight patterns, including Turkey and the Emirates, which handles about 120 million passengers per year.
“This is not a crisis that simply passes like a wave,” Fattal said. “It’s more like a systemic reset of the entire market… The past will no longer be the reference point.”
Tour guide troubles
For Hannah Rosenberg, a licensed tour guide based in Jerusalem, the dismal state of the industry, particularly after the recent war with Iran, is felt every day.
“The bigger places in Israel are doing fine because the government has helped them out financially, and there is a lot of internal travel by Israelis, but the small mom and pop shops are shutting down here in Jerusalem,” Rosenberg told the Report.
“I know bars and restaurants that are not making it and having to close their doors after a couple of decades of being open,” she recounted. “Anytime I do have a random tour, the shop owners and restaurants are just thrilled to have people. They’re just happy to host, and even if it’s for a tiny little income, they’re just happy to see people again.”
Rosenberg, who moved to Israel from South Florida in 2010 and trained as a tour guide in 2019, said that even through the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a range of global travel restrictions, she managed to stay busy. But since October 7, the number of groups she gets to guide has slowed to a trickle.
Tourism rebounded after the pandemic in 2022 and 2023, she said, but after October 7, “everything was canceled.”
“I knew getting into the industry that it’s very volatile, and there would be times where it would slow, but this is one of the longest in history that Israel has ever had of it,” she said. “Tourism is gone, but I do know it’ll come back at some point.”
Debra Nussbaum Stepen, who has been working as a tour guide since 2014, also said some of her work is returning – after nearly four months of nothing due to the Iran war – but she is less hopeful.
“I really feel terrible for the tour guides who have very large families or are the primary breadwinners. It’s really tough,” she said, describing how the government did offer some small grants to those rendered jobless in the crisis, but it’s not enough.
“It’s a mess,” she said, pointing to the high cost of flights to Israel and a failure of Israeli PR to reach general tourists, beyond the obvious visitors who are always likely to come to Israel.
Rebuild the brand
“We need to rebuild the brand of Israel, rebuild tourism, and rethink how we present ourselves globally,” Fattal said. “The key is trust, and trust is low now. People need to believe they can come here, that it’s safe, that tourism is continuous, and that flights won’t suddenly stop or restart unpredictably.”
He said that incoming tourism was more than just another economic sector that has been damaged by nearly three years of war, but rather a “bridge between Israel and the world, and that bridge must be preserved even when too few people are crossing it.”
“At this time, it is essential to retain the human capital that remains in the industry and preserve its professional expertise, while strengthening international marketing efforts and ties with trade partners abroad. Israel will need the world the day after. To ensure that the world returns to Israel, we must support those who are keeping the bridge open today,” he said.
Israel’s tourism is already taking some steps toward rebuilding the shattered industry, recently launching a major multi-platform campaign called “I am Israel,” aimed at appealing to those who already love and value Israel as a country and travel destination.
With a fund of some NIS 20 million, the campaign is designed to reconnect the country to people’s hearts and make it clear that tourist sites are safe and open, Michael Izhakov, director general of the Tourism Ministry, told the Report.
Izhakov said that the ministry’s marketing campaign does not waste time trying to convince those who are critical of Israel to suddenly change their views and love the country, but rather targets people who already have an emotional connection to Israel.
“We’re not trying to persuade people who hate us, we’re speaking to people who already love Israel, and we are trying to keep Israel in people’s minds,” he said. “We’re not apologizing; we didn’t do anything wrong. We’re Israel.”
New campaign
The campaign, which includes a series of highly emotive videos tailored to distinct American audiences – general leisure travelers, the Jewish market, and the Christian market – showcasing different aspects of the country, is not the only step the ministry is taking. It is also working to provide a softer landing for tourists when they are eventually able to return.
That includes removing bureaucratic obstacles to allow more hotels to be built, a move Izhakov said would increase competition and lower the price of hotel rooms, and better regulate non-hotel options, such as Airbnb.
In addition, he said, there are plans to bring in more foreign workers, mostly from Asia, to work in the hotel industry – another step he is hopeful will reduce prices.
Izhakov is aware, however, that until flights return – and the entire region is more stable – tourists, in the numbers Israel is used to, will not return.
“The real issue is flights,” he admitted. “When the American airlines come back, it will solve a lot of problems.”
But Izhakov is optimistic that airlines will return as soon as they can.
“Airline scheduling is complicated, but one thing I know: these routes are profitable, and these businesses want to make money,” he pointed out confidently.
“We have a product that no other country has,” said Izhakov. “No country has this combination of history, culture, food, leisure – everything together. Our product is good. Our product keeps renewing itself.”
“We’re optimistic,” he continued. “We speak with agencies; we speak with people. We see the demand. People aren’t asking us whether they can come to Israel – they’re asking when they can come to Israel.”■