After more than a year and a half with almost no tourists, Israel on Monday reopened its borders to vaccinated travelers, after a decrease in contamination and a parallel national campaign of vaccination with the booster dose.
In the Old City of JerusalemAt the crossroads of monotheisms where the Holy Sepulcher, the Wailing Wall and the Esplanade of the Mosques are concentrated, merchants eagerly await the return of customers.
It is the case of Rami Razouk, a souvenir vendor who smiles after selling, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, postcards and T-shirts to foreign tourists.
“I’m very happy, I haven’t sold anything for a long time. Look at all this dust!” He says after selling stuffed camels to a French tourist, while trying to attract the attention of others.
“I hope the government does not back down from its decision,” said the Palestinian merchant, whose store is located in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian part of the city. However, he is aware that whatever happens, “tourists will not return in a day or a month.”
Israel had an exceptional tourist year in 2019 (before the pandemic) with 4.55 million visitors. In 2021, the authorities expect to receive 300,000 tourists, some of whom arrived earlier this year in organized groups, and estimate the losses to the economy at 22,000 million shekels (6,000 million euros, about 7,000 million dollars) .
“200 kilometers per hour”
“The tourism industry He was traveling at 200 kilometers per hour and had to stop suddenly due to Covid, “he told AFP Amir Halevi, CEO of Ministry of Tourism. “It will take a while to recover (…) but I hope that every month we manage to improve the figures.”
In Jerusalem, the hotel industry estimates that it has lost one million shekels per month for every hotel closed. “Today is a fantastic day as we see the end of the tunnel,” he says. David Tucker from the local hotel association.
On the esplanade of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built in the place where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected according to the Christian religion, some guides gather their troops.
Some groups of tourists were allowed to return to Israel in September, but not individual travelers. Nader Zaro, a Palestinian merchant, owner of a small cafe regrets this fact. “We need ‘normal’ (individual) tourists because tour groups pass but don’t stop,” he explains.
“As a professional (in tourism), it’s amazing and weird,” he says. Ezechiel Grinberg, an Israeli guide who, for the first time in months, accompanies a group of Americans.
“It is not easy because there are still many closed places, it is not really a return to normality,” he explains, lamenting the many conditions that foreigners must meet to enter the country, which constitutes a brake on the resumption of tourism, according to him .
Travelers must present a vaccination certificate of less than six months and a PCR test of no more than 72 hours before leaving for Israel and perform a second test upon arrival.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx