NARAT says tourism to some Middle Eastern nations is holding its own amidst conflict in region
Full-scale warfare between Israel and Iran is leading to further setbacks for tourism in the Middle East, a part of the world whose tourist trade has been struggling with the fallout from the conflict between Israel and Gaza that has been running for over a year and a half now. Israel and Iran have been attacking each other daily for around a week, with both sides vowing further retaliation for the ongoing violence.
The upsurge in violence has prompted countries to issue advisories about travel to the region, with Global Affairs Canada telling Canadians to avoid all travel to Israel, Iran, the West Bank and Gaza.
Those visiting Egypt — which has been quiet since fighting broke out between Gaza and Israel — are being told to exercise a high degree of caution while in the country.
The fighting between Israel and Iran has led to airlines altering routes to avoid Israeli and Iranian airspace and suspend service to both countries for an indefinite period.
Renata Snidr of NARAT, which traditionally has a widespread Middle East program, says bookings for some Middle East countries had been lagging somewhat even before this latest round of fighting.
“NARAT tour reservations of countries in the immediate vicinity of the Gaza conflict are yet to reach pre-conflict and pre-pandemic levels,” she says. “Reservations for Israel have been the most affected, and we have largely paused our activities and operations in Israel for traveller safety consideration. We currently do not operate tours to Lebanon and Iran.”
However, interest in some other Middle Eastern nations is holding its own, Snidr reports.
“The interest in leisure travel to the Gulf Region countries, such as UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Oman are more positive,” she continues. “For the UAE we have observed sales stability with the business and leisure (bleisure) travel segment, buoyed by the growing reputation of the destination as a conference hub.”
However, Snidr acknowledges that the surge in violence will make some leery of the entire region.
“The escalation of the conflict into Lebanon, and most recently to Iran, leaves no doubt that public concern for travel to the region, at least for the near term, will become compounded,” she adds. “For travel agencies that seek advice for their clients reserving NARAT tours to Jordan and Egypt, we impress on them that these countries remain a travel treasure-trove to be experienced. These two pivotal destinations have not been impacted at any point during conflict. There has been no cause for us to modify our existing high passenger safety protocols that are in place for our tours for the two countries.
“We additionally remind that NARAT operated the first major group from North America to Egypt following the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The large group, spread in two river cruises, was completely unaffected during the entire tour. In fact, traveller experience of the destination was enhanced during the journey, with fewer tourists at the historical sites of the popular travel destination,” Snidr adds.
