Iron Sword War has caused quite a few changes in our lives, and some of them are reflected in the number of passengers at Ben Gurion Airport. On days when passenger numbers were the lowest, a total of about 10,000 passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport a day. Now, we can see a significant increase in the number of passengers, with a record of more than two months on Thursday – 24,<> passengers passed through and will pass through there today, with half of them taking off abroad.
Photo by Ancho Gosh/JINI // Skiers on Mount Hermon, Monday,
Many Israelis return to the ski resorts,
In conversations with senior executives of various tourism companies, they report a significant increase in demand over the past few weeks. Ronen Katz, owner of Ski Deal, told Israel Hayom: "From what we see at the moment, we are in more than 50% demand than usual, which is not a bad number considering the fact that we are at war. We left ski flights to almost all the destinations we had such as Austria, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Georgia and Andorra, we just reduced quantities. This year there is huge amounts of snow, the most there have been in the last ten years, and many sites report the best surfing conditions in many years. In the last three weeks, we have seen an improvement in the pace of bookings and even a significant level. Reservations are mainly for January and February and there are also those who book for March. People tend to book mostly for the near term because of the uncertainty about what will happen next."
High demand for cruises around the world, photo: Royal Caribbean PR
Udi Schnabel, CEO of Norma, Royal Caribbean's official representative in Israel: "Since the beginning of the month, we have seen a consistent increase of tens of percent every week in demand for Caribbean cruise holidays for January and February, a sought-after season with pleasant weather. At the same time, there are also invitations from families for summer vacations, cruises in the Mediterranean, departures from Barcelona on the Oasis of the Seas, which is one of the largest ships in the world."
High demand for football matches in Europe, photo: Reuters
Yossi Alfasi, CEO of Live Tickets: "Sports and music fans are waking up. In recent days we have seen in Live Tickets, a growing demand for tickets to matches and performances abroad. The top events are: Champions League matches, Euro tournament, Final Four, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Coldplay, English and Spanish leagues. Popular games include Napoli vs Barcelona, Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig, Clásico in Madrid and end-of-year matches in England. Since Black Saturday, we have focused mainly on canceling invitations from Israeli audiences, with almost no new orders coming in in the first few weeks. The increase in orders started from the ceasefire and has increased significantly in recent days." Alfasi added, "The Euro this summer is gaining momentum among Israelis and it can be estimated that the tournament will currently be attended by thousands of Israelis. If the fighting ends a few months before the start of the tournament, about 15,000 Israelis may arrive, but if the Israeli team qualifies for the prestigious tournament, that number will double."
MSC Sinfonia, photo: PR
MSC also reports an increase in bookings in recent weeks, the company's CEO in Israel: "The Israeli audience really loves to travel and vacation around the world, together with the situation in Israel that affects all of us, we are starting to see a trend of an awakening in bookings and also see an increase in visits to the site. The numbers are still far from what they were before the war, but this is a positive trend that reached an increase of 70% in the past week. We will continue to offer our Israeli customers a variety of vacation options. In light of the situation, we have made the booking conditions flexible for our customers in Israel and added convenient cancellation conditions that take into account the war situation in Israel, so that they can book cruises safely even in times of uncertainty."
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