“We are going to be the Land of Milk and Honey again,” said Israel’s defiant Minister for Tourism Haim Katz this week. “We want to see and hear tourists on our streets.”
Talking to Jewish News at the World Travel Market, the minister’s robust take on the future for travel to the Holy Land was reflected by the much larger and more prominent stand Israel has taken at Excel this year.
Against brightly-lit signs projecting Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other destinations, enthusiastic representatives from the hotels, tour groups and landmarks chatted to clients and visitors who nibbled on Bamba and varieties of halva. Any indication that the country has and continues to be targeted by its enemies and global critics was well hidden and the giveaway tee shirts were a smart and useful cover-up that many were keen to accept.
“Yes, we are in difficult times, but we have a very strong economy and the shekel is stable. We have holy historical places, we have landscape, we have the sea, good food, nightlife and a co-existing culture. It was the land of milk and honey until the seventh of October and then the honey was gone, but it will come back. The end of the war will come soon.”
For the past year the Ministry of Tourism in Israel has been leading the mission to house and care for the hundreds of thousands of displaced families who were forced to relocate after the Hamas atrocities and subsequently from hostilities in the North.
“I was the general of the civilian war inside Israel and responsible for 130,000 people being moved from their homes. I asked to get this mission which is a different kind of tourism. We took around 50,000 of the 54,000 hotel rooms in Israel. We, the government, paid and have got the hotels through this crisis. Now most of the citizens from the south have gone back, and in Eilat there are now 15,000 people in hotels and 48,000 are now living in houses for which we pay the rent. You can’t let people stay for a year in a 20 square metre hotel room.”
With support for the hotels and dispossessed citizens as his first priority for a year, the minister is now hopeful that the rapidly changing situation will bring a normalised tourist industry back to Israel, and was keen to stress that whilst he understands that people may delay their current travel plans, British tourists should keep Israel at the front of their minds.
“Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Eilat and even Tiberius are open and safe and have been working hard throughout the crises to support operators and businesses in Israel to keep them strong and ready to welcome back visitors in higher numbers with open arms”.
Haim Katz has that welcome set for Spring 2025. “Maybe as early as March we will be ready,” he added. “But the south is safe now and Israel will give you value for money. It is cheaper than London for example and in Israel you can make local calls to God.”
Ultimately the Minister’s message for Jewish visitors is that a trip to Israel offers the country and the people a vital show of support. “So when the time is right for you and your family, we will be ready to see you,” he said and then went on to chat about the country’s first legal and official camel race to be held with the Bedouin community in the Negev desert which was attended by thousands of spectators. “Formula One for camels,” he laughed. “And an example of coexistence in what will be the restored Land of Milk and Honey.”
Flights are still disrupted but Israeli carrier Israir has announced a new schedule, with six weekly flights scheduled to take UK visitors directly from London Luton to Ben Gurion, Tel Aviv. The flights will depart from Sunday to Friday, from 17 November 2024.
