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Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv at the end of February: “Bring them home now” banner – brings the hostages back

Photo: Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images

Israeli Tourism Minister Haim Katz has described the Foreign Office's travel warning, which is still in effect, as baseless.

»I don't know why it still exists?

The tourist regions in Israel are safe," said Katz at the ITB tourism trade fair in Berlin.

He will do everything to ensure that the travel warning is lifted.

Israel has been in a state of war since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th.

Tourism numbers have collapsed - especially from Germany.

Until the Hamas attack in the fall, an average of 13,000 tourists from all over the world arrived in Israel every day.

After that, tourism virtually came to a standstill.

Most recently there were an average of 2,700 incoming tourists per day and in the medium term we expect 9,000 to 10,000 again.

According to the minister, travelers are also coming from Germany, albeit only in trickles.

To put it into perspective: In 2023, around 230,000 tourists from German-speaking countries had traveled to Israel until the attack, with more travelers only coming from France and the USA.

Travel warning since mid-October

The Foreign Office has been warning against traveling to Israel and the Palestinian territories since mid-October.

The travel advice currently states, among other things: "The rocket fire from Gaza on all parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, continues, and the situation remains highly volatile." An expansion of the conflict cannot be ruled out.

A travel warning is not a travel ban.

In practice, however, tour operators often make them the test of their decisions - for example, whether to offer trips to a country.

Slump in demand for flights

Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv is open.

However, many airlines have reduced or discontinued their flight offerings as a result of the attack and the Gaza war that has been going on since then.

The number of flights available is currently increasing again, according to the Israeli state transport office.

There are currently 28 direct flights per week from Germany, and there are expected to be significantly more over the course of the spring.

Lufthansa has been flying to Israel again since the beginning of January, but the 20 weekly connections to and from Tel Aviv only correspond to around 30 percent of the regular flight schedule.

There are also direct flights from Germany with the Israeli airline El Al.

The US airline United wants to fly daily from Newark near New York to Tel Aviv again from Wednesday: They will monitor the situation very closely and adjust the flight plan if necessary.

The Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has initially stopped its flights to Tel Aviv, which began on February 1st, from February 27th - but because the airport fees are too high from the airline's point of view.

They want to suspend the flight offer until Terminal 1, which is currently closed and is cheaper for the airline, goes back into operation.

aeh/dpa