On Monday of this week, the NSC published a map of the classification of countries according to their level of risk. The safest countries that have entered Level 1 are relatively numerous and there are dozens of such countries. Among the countries on the list are a long list of very touristy countries and those that many Israelis have traveled and travel to even without connection to the war.
Yoni Waxman, Deputy Chairman of Ofir Tours, said, "We are witnessing a significant increase in destinations defined as green for Israeli travelers, mainly in countries such as Prague, Romania and Poland. There has been a 24% increase in bookings to these destinations since the announcement of the NSC and according to an examination we conducted at the hotline. Israelis are still looking for a nearby destination with a Christmas market atmosphere, of course the sense of security is very important for them and therefore the increase in bookings to these destinations. On the other hand, there is only a slight decline in demand for destinations that are under sharpening of warning. The public understood even before that these are less pleasant destinations to travel to at the moment."
The tourist areas in Thailand are considered relatively safe, Photo: Moshe Shai
Tali Noy, vice president of marketing and sales at ISSTA: "We see that there has been a tens of percent increase in orders in recent days to the US, Canada, islands in Thailand, European cities that people thought about flying such as London, Rome, Paris and switched to destinations such as Prague, Munich and Warsaw Bucharest, which are considered to have a low level of anti-Semitism."
According to Shirley Cohen Orkabi, Deputy Director General of Eshet Tours: "The NSC's announcement reinforced an existing trend of demand for countries friendly to Israel. Demand in recent days has been mainly to the US, where there has been a significant strengthening due to the visa exemption, and to destinations in Europe defined as safe – Prague, Warsaw, Bucharest and Cyprus. However, it must be admitted that these are still very low numbers compared to last year and the pace of recovery is slow."
Demand is also high for the US following the visa exemption, Photo: GettyImages
The list of safest destinations entered into category 1 includes: Cyprus, Vietnam, Japan, most regions in Thailand (excluding the south, excluding the islands), Laos, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Poland, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia Croatia, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Slovakia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Iceland, USA, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Nepal and more.
Nir Mazor, VP Aviation Relations, explains: "The trend of recovery continues despite a change in travel warning definitions. In fact, the goals defined at level 1 and 2 behave quite similarly without any difference. In the end, it is difficult to convince that the streets of Madrid/Athens and Budapest are more or less dangerous than Larnaca and certainly the streets of Jerusalem, Ashdod and Tel Aviv. Israelis are experienced enough to take precautions and stay away from risk centers such as anti-Israeli demonstrations even on routine days and without the new recommendations. The most prominent destinations are Budapest and Prague, but Athens and Amsterdam are also in relatively high demand. It must of course be emphasized that in any case, we are at very low levels of demand, while the public is completely preoccupied with the war situation in Israel."
Oren Cohen Maguri, VP of Flying Carpet: "In recent days there has been a gradual awakening and an increase in searches for vacations in "safe" destinations. Every day we see a gradual increase in the number of visits to the site and Google searches for vacation. The numbers are still low, but we are definitely seeing a change in trend. Israelis are beginning to plan ahead, and booking a future vacation adds a lot of hope for quiet and safe days to come at the end of the war."
Gulliver Group CEO Ziv Rosen: "We are definitely seeing an improvement trend in orders and a moderate increase in demand (but still in low numbers), and we see a correlation with the countries that the Counterterrorism Headquarters advertises as safer countries for Israelis. For example, you can see orders to the Scandinavian countries, probably at the expense of classic Western European countries, and in Eastern Europe we also see an increase in demand, for example in the Czech Republic, which is very prominent, Romania, Serbia and Poland."
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