Feature: Last year's Gaza war still hobbles tourism to Israel

It is high noon in the Old City of East Jerusalem, Suleiman Sabakh is standing at the entrance of his souvenir shop and fingering prayer beads.

In normal times, the colorful oriental market is a must stop for visitors to the city, but last summer's war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas, and the escalation of violence between Jews and Arabs that followed, inflicted a crushing blow on Sabakh which continues to this day.

"Since this morning six people have come in here, and this is a good day," says 57-year-old Sabakh, who supports a family of six.

Grains of dust hang in a ray of light that rests on olivewood carvings of the nativity of baby Jesus. Chains of camels and Armenian porcelain plates are laid out gracefully on the shelves of Sabakh's shop, which has been owned by his family for over 50 years.

"We have known many hard times," he says, "but the present time is especially difficult."

Sabakh's troubles reflect a steep decline in the number of tourists to Israel since the Jewish state began a 51-day offensive on the Gaza Strip on July 8, 2014, known as "Operation Protective Edge."

Despite glimmers of recovery in recent months, now, a year after the war, the stream of visitors to Israel is still about 18 percent lower than on the eve of the war, according to figures released Wednesday by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.

"UNPRECEDENTED LOW"

"The tourism situation is at an unprecedented low and Protective Edge is still having its effect," says Eli Gonen, president of the Hotel Association, in a discussion of the crisis in tourism, recently held by the Knesset Economy Committee.

2014 should have been a record-breaking year for Israeli tourism. But the war - which saw the death of 2,251 Palestinians, most of them civilians, as well as 72 Israelis, all but six were soldiers - smashed all hope of such a prospect.

Israel's tourist centers of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were mostly unharmed, but the horrifying photographs of the war in Gaza scared off tourists.

Gaza militants fired 4,881 rockets at Israel, most of which landed in the south near the Gaza border.

However, a rocket that landed on July 21, 2014, a mile away from Ben Gurion, Israel's main international airport, prompted the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to suspend all flights to and from Ben Gurion. Major European and Canadian air carriers quickly followed suit and suspended their flights as well.

Flights only recommenced following intensive protests from Israel and explanations that the army had traced the rocket from the moment it was shot from Gaza, and chose not to intercept it because they knew it would fall in an empty field. The ban continued for three days, but the PR damage was huge, according to officials in the tourist industry.

"A moment before Protective Edge, we were facing a peak year in incoming tourists, and a moment after, a low point," said CEO of the Bureau of Incoming Tourism Agents, Yossi Fatael.

"We are the only country in the world to have a peak and a low point in the same year," he added.

A senior official with the Ministry of Tourism told Xinhua that, in fact, the situation is even worse than indicated by the numerical data.

Many of the 1.5 million visitors arriving in Israel in 2015 came for one day alone, usually on a cruise, and do not contribute to the commercial turnover of the tourist industry because they do not sleep in Israel and often even eat on the ship rather than in local restaurants, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In the first quarter of 2015, tourists stay at hotels decreased by more than 27 percent in comparison to the first quarter of 2014, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. During the same period there was a 25 percent decrease in proceeds from tourism in comparison to the previous year.

FULL RECOVERY EXPECTED IN 2016

In contrast to the tourism crisis following the outbreak of the second Intifada (Palestinian uprising) in 2000, from which tourism was quick to bounce back, "this time recovery is taking a long time," said Fatael.

"The reason is that there are several crises at the same time: Protective Edge, a 50 to 60 percent drop in incoming tourism from Russia - an important sector for Israeli tourism - due to the economic crisis there, and the crisis in the European economy in general," he said.

The Ministry of Tourism estimates that the number of tourists will return to its pre-war level only in 2016, an official told Xinhua.

Amir Halevi, CEO of the Ministry of Tourism, told Xinhua that Israel is affected also by the battles taking place in the Middle East and the horrors inflicted by the Islamic State (IS), which cause people who in the past visited the country as part of a tour of Syria, Egypt and Jordan, to cancel their plans.

He said that despite the dangerous image crystallizing with regard to this area, "Israel is one of the safest countries in the world, and you can walk around alone at night. That's pretty rare in the world."

One of the cities that was hit hardest by the war and by the decrease in tourism from Russia is Eilat, a resort at the southern tip of Israel.

In April, the Ministry of Tourism launched a program offering 45 euros (about 50 U.S. dollars) to airlines operating direct flights to Ovda, the airport near the city.

As a result, Halevi says, the low cost airline Ryanair announced on Tuesday the start of activity in Israel. Ryanair said they would operate routes to Eilat from three cities in western Europe, which would deliver 40,000 customers annually.

Officials in the tourist sector say that in view of the general slowdown in Europe, Israel is looking at the emerging markets of China and India.

While the number of tourists from Europe plunged by 20 percent, the number of tourists from China jumped by 37 percent, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

However, the numbers are still low - 18,791 visitors from China arrived in Israel from the beginning of the year - and the main segment of the Israeli tourist market remains Europe, according to the Ministry. Endit