On World Tourism Day, Tourism Has Evaporated in Jerusalem

Tourism is the backbone of the economy of East Jerusalem. It is the main engine of all social and economic life. When its wheels move, everything moves. But when tourism stops, much of East Jerusalem comes to a standstill.

This is an article of faith among tourism experts, and ordinary Jerusalemites know it to be true.

Tony Khashram inherited his tourism business from his father and grandfather. His family has been involved in this sector since the late 19th century. Few in Jerusalem can talk about tourism and its conditions with as much authority and expertise as he can. He is willing to talk for hours about the subject without getting tired, nor does he ever become boring on that subject. He says that tourism is the best example of coexistence and tolerance in the Holy City.

In an exclusive interview with Jerusalem Story, Tony did not mince his words as he called the situation of tourism in Jerusalem “catastrophic in every sense of the word. The numbers speak for themselves.”1 After nearly a year of aggression and genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian people in general, the financial revenue from incoming tourism in the city is zero. East Jerusalem has 45 tourism offices and 19 hotels containing 1,100 hotel rooms and 12 guest houses. There are 450 guest rooms, 298 Palestinian tour guides who can talk to tourists in several languages, 296 tourist buses owned by Jerusalemites, 52 small- and medium-sized tourist restaurants specializing in incoming tourism, 350 souvenir shops (oriental antique shops), with most of them in the Old City, 8 workshops (ceramic workshops), 15 traditional Palestinian jewelry workshops, 2 leather workshops, and 4 silver workshops. All of them have completely stopped working, with losses estimated in the tens of millions of dollars.

Among those who depend on tourism and consider it their only income is Abu Ayman, 36, proud owner of a tourist bus that he has completely stopped driving because there are no tourists to drive around.

“If the war stops completely and calm returns, returning the bus to work requires more than $10,000 for maintenance and reactivation, since it has been idle for about a year.”2 After the coronavirus pandemic subsided, he said, tourism activity returned in an unprecedented way and everyone achieved record profits, so much so that he took a chance and bought a new bus in the hope that the tourism explosion would continue as it was. But then followed the war on Gaza, and everything came to a screeching halt.

Margo Tarazi, co-owner of the Universal Tourist Agency in Jerusalem, confirmed that the situation for the tourism industry has been miserable since October 7, 2023. “The tourism business has become so bad that we are not even able to cover our basic costs. The only work we are doing is selling outgoing tickets, mostly for necessity, not vacations. Incoming tourism has totally stopped.”3

Shakib al-Husseini, a tourism expert and owner of the Dynamic tourism and travel company, decided to venture into other areas when the tourists disappeared. “Before the Gaza war, I introduced marine tourism, a previously unknown type of tourism to Palestine. I operated marine trips with major specialized international companies, and our company became the address for this type of tourism, but when the war began, this kind of tourism also stopped. I have had to change directions again and started selling apartments in Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Georgia, but in East Jerusalem there is little activity, because money is tight now.”4

Shakib told Jerusalem Story that many hotels in the occupied West Bank, especially in Ramallah, have recently been transformed into wedding halls to pay for basic bills and not to be forced to close down.

Shakib himself was forced to close his East Jerusalem tourism office and has been working from home to save on office costs. He is convinced that the 2025 tourism season is over and that 2026 will not be much better unless the war ends in the next few weeks.

“We need between 6 and 12 months to prepare to receive the first tourist delegations, especially Christian and Muslim tourism, which is the mainstay of tourism to the Holy Land.”

In the well-known Ambassador Hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, the painful and harsh effects of the disappearance of tourism can be observed. Its main hall is empty of tourists, visitors, and even locals who prefer it over other hotels. Sami Abu Dayyeh, the hotel owner, who also owns a chain of hotels and tourism offices in Jerusalem and elsewhere, reflected on the catastrophe they are facing. “Tourism is linked to peace, security, and calm, and without that, there will be no real tourism. These days we, the country, and the people in general are going through very difficult conditions, and tourism is a reflection of the general situation.”5

Tourism is often highlighted for its significant role in economic development and in promoting peace at the global level in a world where people’s relations are interconnected. Tourism plays a significant role in promoting dialogue between cultures, providing many opportunities to communicate with other people and building tolerance. Under the slogan “Tourism and Peace,” World Tourism Day 2024 (observed on September 27 this year) highlights the vital role of this sector in promoting peace and understanding between nations and cultures and in supporting reconciliation processes. In his message for World Tourism Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres states,

Without peace, calm, security, and openness to others who are different from you, there will be no tourism.

In Jerusalem, inbound tourism collapsed, and outgoing tourism—difficult, complicated, and expensive for Palestinians—is negligible. (Outgoing emigration, however, may be picking up.)

Turkey was considered the most attractive destination for Palestinian tourists, especially for Jerusalem residents, but due to the war, even traveling there has become a great hardship, which has led people to suspend any travel plans, causing great losses for tourism offices.

Any Palestinian Jerusalemite who wants to travel to Turkey must travel to Jordan first, which means making the difficult trip across the King Hussein Bridge in the West Bank and then traveling via Queen Alia Airport in Amman, Jordan. Going to Turkey by way of Jordan simply increases the financial and physical burden, making even the relatively affordable trip to Turkey out of reach for some families.

The evaporation of the possibility of relaxing travel abroad means that Jerusalemites don’t have any exit, even a temporary one, from the pressure cooker of life under Israeli occupation. In the longer term, this can also have adverse effects on health.