Will Israel finally receive tourists from next month?
Behind the optimism and the feeling of returning to sanity lie quite a few unresolved difficulties.
They threaten to significantly dilute the amount of potential tourists and cut off the expectations of industry people in the country.
The Ministry of Tourism recently announced that Israel is expected to open to tourists from abroad in early November, after a year and a half during which the gates of Ben Gurion Airport were closed to them.
The decision, for a change, met with little opposition.
Most government ministers are in favor, and even the Ministry of Health tends to allow vaccinated tourists to enter.
However, despite the good intentions, in recent days the government ministries involved in the issue have encountered some relatively complex problems, which they are unlikely to be able to solve in the short time remaining until the target is set.
Tourists at Ben Gurion Airport (archive), Photo: Yossi Zeliger
The Sputnik Barrier
The first problem is the matter of vaccines.
There are countries with which Israel has good relations, but it is likely that most of its citizens will not be able to enter the country at all.
Anyone who has been vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik vaccine - which is currently the most common, and has not yet been approved by the World Health Organization - is currently facing a problem as a result.
However, its approval is expected in the coming weeks.
If it is approved, it will also be possible to allow entry for those who have been vaccinated.
Among the many countries in which it can be mentioned are Argentina, Albania, Russia, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Jordan, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, the Philippines, Serbia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, UAE, Vietnam And others.
At the moment, Israel adheres to the decisions of the World Health Organization, and tends to allow only those vaccinated with vaccines approved by it to enter Israel.
This leaves very many in the world with no option to enter here.
Sputnik vaccines 5. Not yet approved by the World Health Organization, Photo: Reuters
Another cardinal problem with vaccines is their validity.
To date, most of the vaccinated in the world have received only two doses, and many of them received the second dose more than six months ago.
The government ministries involved tend to approve the entry of tourists who received a third dose or those who received a second dose less than six months ago, just like vaccinated Israelis who receive an exemption from isolation back from abroad. The world does not meet this definition.
If the government ministries involved decide to allow tourists vaccinated with a second dose more than six months ago to enter the country without isolation, they will be in a situation where tourists are exempt from isolation - while Israelis in the same situation will be obliged to do so.
The Big Mine: USA
Another and no less big obstacle that the Ministry of Tourism is currently trying to deal with is the forgeries.
In many countries, including those whose citizens have been vaccinated with approved vaccines, the vaccination certificates can be forged very easily, as not all of them have a scan code like in Israel.
In many countries, vaccination certificates are merely a doctor's signature on a page, one that anyone who wants to can easily forge.
Thus, there are fears in Israel, quite a few tourists will be able to enter the country who will present a vaccination permit, there will be no way to check if it is an official permit, and in practice those tourists will not be vaccinated at all.
Recently, Israel's mutual recognition agreement on the vaccinator's certificate with the European Union and other countries, including Turkey, Morocco and Switzerland, came into force.
Under the agreement, mutual recognition will allow tourists from all countries to present vaccinated certificates, alongside a barcode that can be easily scanned to verify.
However, there are many countries where the documentation does not include digital means that could allow the Israeli authorities to verify the credibility of the certificates.
It is important to emphasize that the government ministries involved are working these days to implement mechanisms that are supposed to prevent forgeries.
One of the largest and most important countries with which there are quite a few difficulties in this regard is the United States. Israel will not receive the American certificate, a situation may arise in which the Americans will also not agree to receive the Israeli certificate.
The government ministries involved are currently working on a solution and several options are being considered.
The new green character.
There are many countries where the documentation does not include digital means,
All in all, the good news for the tourism industry in Israel will be minor and of very low impact, if the outline to be approved is one that will allow only digitally approved vaccines, recognized by the World Health Organization, and vaccinated with a third or second dose for up to six months.
All of these conditions imposed by Israel significantly dilute the amounts of potential tourists.
The hotel industry here expects a wider opening and reports very low occupancy during this period, which is already weak, especially in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, cities that are significantly based on foreign tourists.
