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Occupied Jerusalem- Since the seventh of last October, the tourism sector has been affected by…Jerusalem The tourists were killed, and tourism offices and airlines rushed to advance the dates of their reservations to return them to their countries, in light of the severe confusion experienced by Ben Gurion International Airport in the city of Lod.
Within 3 days, the city was completely devoid of the movement of tourists, whose economy depends heavily on them. It is a destination for Muslims and Christians around the world to pray in its sanctities and enjoy the ancient history and civilization, and is visited by more than 3 million tourists annually.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, the head of the Jerusalem Tourism Association said that 24 Arab hotels in Jerusalem, which include 1,200 hotel rooms, were empty due to the war. Despite this, the owners of some hotels were determined to keep their doors open and operate them at a minimum through press delegations that arrived in the city to cover the events.
Saadeh added: “We have learned from the Corona pandemic that closing hotels for a long period makes it difficult to reopen them, because they will then need expensive maintenance work due to their cessation of operation, and therefore some hotel owners decided to keep them open despite the high operational expenses.”
The recovery season has passed
The biggest problem – according to Saadeh – is that the busiest tourist season in Jerusalem is concentrated in the months of October and November of each year, and therefore the opportunity for the tourism sector to recover has ended with the continuation of the war, the outcome of which everyone is unaware of.
His Excellency owns the “Al Quds” Hotel, located on Antar Bin Shaddad Street, dozens of meters away from… Damascus Gate (One of the gates of the Old City), and despite the war entering its third month and the rate of cancellation of reservations reaching 100% until next April, he insists on opening the doors of his hotel, and says that he lives each day at a time, hoping that he will be lucky with reservations from here or there for his hotel rooms. .
Saadeh points out that “airlines have suspended their reservations to the country, and some countries have issued warnings against traveling to Palestine due to the war, and even some of the press crews that I used to book their stay in the country at my hotel recently told me that insurance does not cover their stay in hotels in East Jerusalem.” .
According to the head of the Jerusalem Tourism Association, the number of Arab hotels in Jerusalem decreased by 50% after construction Insulating wall In 2002, the city was isolated from its geographical extension represented by its suburbs and villages on the one hand, and the West Bank governorates on the other hand.
This tragic situation of the city’s hotels is matched by a rebound in the number of rooms belonging to Israeli hotels spread across the eastern and western parts of the city, which are estimated at 9,000 rooms, according to Saadeh.
The damage is complex
These months are not only difficult for hotel owners, but also for everyone whose work is related to the tourism sector, such as the owners of 45 tourism offices operating in the city, and 462 shops specializing in tourist antiques, restaurants, and buses, in addition to all businesses related to hotels, such as laundry services, cleaning materials companies, and vegetable stores. Fruits and food supplies contracted with hotels in the Arab city.
According to the Secretary of the Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jerusalem, Hijazi Al-Rishq, shops specializing in oriental tourist antiques constitute 34% of the total number of shops in the Old City, and the owners of these shops have opened their doors since the beginning of the war just to ventilate them for fear of damage to the goods piled up inside without buyers.
As for the Jerusalemite tourist guide, Saeed Rabieh, he is saddened by the state of death that the tourism sector in Jerusalem has reached since the outbreak of the war, but what hurts him most is the “weeping” condition of the Old City, with it being devoid of tourist delegations that revive the merchants, as he put it.
For more than two decades, Rabieh has been working as a tourist guide and confirms that he is accustomed to a setback in tourism in the Holy City every two or three years at the latest, which forced him and 200 other Jerusalemite tourist guides to apply to the National Insurance Institute for unemployment benefits recently.
He told Al Jazeera Net, “I miss seeing tourists filling the alleys of the Old City and visiting its sanctities. It is the place I enjoy guiding tourists the most because I am her son who was born and raised there and knows every inch of it by heart.” He adds that sadness hangs over Al-Atiqa and its shops, 85% of which depend on movement. Tourist.
