Flight bookings to Israel plummet more than 60% as Gaza war enters sixth month
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The Israel-Gaza war continues to affect demand for travel to the Middle East and North Africa, with forward ticket bookings to the region down 6 per cent in the second quarter as the conflict enters its sixth month.
Airlines, airports and hotels are preparing for the typically busy summer peak tourism season, to capitalise on the strong appetite for travel following the Covid-19 pandemic.
But demand for travel to some countries in the Mena region has dropped, with flight bookings to Israel plummeting by an annualised 61 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, according to data from January to March 6 by travel data analysis company ForwardKeys.
“Israel has been the hardest hit in terms of inbound travel, with a sharp drop in inbound tickets issued directly after the conflict began,” Olivier Ponti, director of intelligence and marketing at ForwardKeys, told media.
“Year-to-date tickets issued remain 61 per cent below last year’s volumes, as airlines continue to drop connections with Tel Aviv and delay any potential return date.”
Countries close to the conflict have also recorded fewer inbound international travellers.
Flight bookings for travel to Lebanon in the second quarter fell 33 per cent year on year, with bookings to Jordan and Egypt down 31 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, according to the latest available figures by the Spain-based flight ticketing data company.
“Destinations in the region are clearly more impacted by the ongoing crisis, suggesting the traveller sentiment towards safety significantly influences their choice of destination, with a marked preference for destinations perceived as more stable and secure,” Mr Ponti said.
The war, which started when Hamas launched a deadly attack into southern Israel on October 7, shows no signs of ending.
Israel has since carried out a relentless bombardment and ground offensive that the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed more than 31,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
After the war broke out, many major global airlines suspended flights to Tel Aviv owing to security reasons. Demand for travel to Israel also fell as safety concerns kept international visitors away and bookings cancellations spiked, according to ForwardKeys data.
While some airlines, such as Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Air France, flydubai and Etihad Airways, have since restarted flights to Tel Aviv, others including Emirates have extended temporary halts on services into Israel.
Last year, three million tourists visited the country, slightly up from 2.7 million in 2022, the Israeli Tourism Ministry said in January.
December was the worst-performing month of the year with only 52,800 tourists, compared with more than 300,000 a month earlier in the year.
In Egypt, the country received a record 14.9 million international visitors last year.
While numbers in the fourth quarter were up 8 per cent annually, they still fell short of expectations due to the Gaza war, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa said this year.
Meanwhile, the outlook for Lebanon’s vital tourism sector is marred by uncertainty due to the conflict on its southern border between Israel and Hezbollah.
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