Every day about 150 Israelis fly to Istanbul • Turkish Airlines added four more weekly flights starting next week • Greetings from Jerusalem: "Istanbul is really empty"
"The streets are relatively empty of tourists, the majority are local"
Photo:
AP
For many years, Turkey has been a major Israeli tourist destination, and not just because of connecting flights. However, the Marmara flotilla in 2010 was a significant turning point after which for many years Erdogan's country was abandoned by the Israeli tourist. In recent years, and especially in the last year following the defeat of the Turkish president's party in the local elections last year, there has been a jump in the number of Israeli tourists in the country.
Surprisingly, even in the current period in which the State of Israel is facing a second wave of illness - many Israelis choose to vacation in Turkey in general and Istanbul in particular. This is despite the fact that the morbidity situation in Turkey is not encouraging.
Currently, a few countries allow Israeli tourists to enter their territory without the need for isolation or the presentation of corona tests. Cyprus and Greece do not agree to accept tourists from Israel and so do most European countries. Israelis can enter the United States and Mexico, but these are long and expensive flights - and Asia is closed to the Israeli tourist almost hermetically.
When all this is happening, Turkey is the best option and it seems that quite a few Israelis are jumping on the bargain. Many Israelis are in the IDF, ready to absorb the isolation back to Israel and choose to fly and rest for a short flight of about two hours.
At present, the only airline that operates direct flights between Israel and Turkey is Turkish Airlines. The Turkish airline operates its Boeing 737s on this route, which have a little less than 200 seats. A check with the airline shows that there is 85% occupancy on planes, which means that every day there are about 150 Israelis flying on the Tel Aviv-Istanbul route. Of course, not all of them are tourists, many of them businessmen, but among them there are also quite a few tourists. The line is so successful that this week Turkish Airlines will expand operations and add four more weekly flights - which will become 11 flights on this line each week. From next Thursday, the Turkish company Pegasus will also return to operate flights on the Istanbul-Tel Aviv route. Pegasus will operate three flights a week, so from next week there will be 14 weekly passenger flights between Istanbul and Tel Aviv.
$ 80 per night
The owner of a hotel in Antalya said that last week about fifty Israelis came to his hotel and decided to go on vacation. The timing combines the fact that Turkey is one of the only vacation options, the short flight, and of course the cheap prices in the hotels in the country. Flight prices for August start at $ 160 with Pegasus, and start at $ 190 with Turkish Airlines. A five-star hotel in Istanbul can be found starting at $ 80 in August, prices significantly lower than what we saw in previous years.
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List of countries to which you can fly without isolation
In an attempt to match the huge airport in Istanbul with the incoming tourism in the shadow of the corona, the Turkish government has taken several actions and changed regulations: first and foremost, only passengers, airport crews and airline crews are allowed to enter the terminal.
At the same time, it is mandatory to wear masks inside the terminal and on planes. In order not to delay the passengers during the attempt to locate them, they are infected in Corona - they are mirrored at the airport with the help of thermal cameras. Foreign tourists are required to enter the country with health insurance, and if among the foreign passengers landing in Turkey a corona patient is found - he is transferred to a private hospital.
The Turks are not content with just the current infrastructure More advanced arrays will soon be set up at the main airport in Istanbul that will include a laboratory that can decipher 40,000 tests simultaneously. Also in the planning of the government in Ankara: the establishment of clean tourist areas from Corona in Istanbul, Antalya, Bodrum and other areas.
"I'm not afraid of the corona," Orit Ephraim from Migdal HaEmek tells "Israel Today" from Istanbul. She notes that while she was at Ben Gurion Airport there were very few people and the duty free was closed, while on the plane "a note is handed out that needs to be filled in with flight details and name. As soon as the plane took off - sprinkle disinfectant that I think came out of the air conditioners. The plane is very clean, at the entrance to the plane they hand out a personal bag with wipes and a mask. The food also comes packaged and tidy. "
In Istanbul itself, Ephraim notes that "the streets are relatively empty of tourists, the majority are local. There are lots of shops open but they are empty."
Bracha Nava Amar from Jerusalem landed in Istanbul on Sunday. "The situation looks very sad, both at Ben Gurion Airport and at the airport in Istanbul," Amar shares.