With the Israel-Palestine conflict intensifying, tour operators are receiving last-minute rescheduling and cancellation requests from Indian travellers who had plans to visit the area or neighbouring regions during December.
“Luckily we don’t have clients in Israel right now. The last group exited (Israel) about a week before. We expect disruptions and, hence, we proactively cancelled our plans for Israel for next three months. Those who planned to travel to Israel have been given options for other countries or to postpone travel plans,” Anand Parameswaran, founder and chief executive, Beyonder Experiences, told Mint.
The December quarter witnesses a heavy inflow of tourists to countries such as Israel, Jordan and Egypt due to pleasant weather. According to the October-December 2019 data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, 38,573 passengers had travelled between India and Israel. About 20,842 passengers flew between India and Egypt. Indian tourists and those attending conferences or meetings have direct flight options to Israel and Egypt. Travellers who planned to visit neighbouring countries such as Jordan are also considering altering itineraries. One-stop flights are available for Jordan.
“For Jordan, despite the fact that there is no issue, there is a reluctance among travellers. We are giving them alternatives instead,” Parameswaran said.
Air India has suspended Delhi-Tel Aviv flights until 14 October in view of the conflict. Rising tensions in the region have also forced other major airlines, including United Airlines, Delta, Lufthansa, American airlines, Air France, Ryan Air, and Aegean have decided to either reschedule flights, suspend flight operations or reduce direct flights.
“October marks the beginning of the peak travel season. As this conflict deepens, this will have an increasing impact on tourism traffic to and from the Middle East among leisure and business travellers, going for meetings, conferences and exhibitions,” Aashish Gupta, consulting chief executive, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (Faith), said.
Hardening of oil prices as a result of the Israel-Palestine war, and the conflict in Russia-Ukraine will lead to inflationary pressures and will impact air fares and thus discretionary travel, Gupta added.
The conflict comes at the time when Indian airlines are expanding internationally in order to tap the growing aspirations of Indian travellers who have shown an increasing tendency to visit overseas destinations in the short-to-medium range.
“There is a lot of negativity right now and people are postponing their plans. We are in talks to have a charter flight from Israel, but we are not sure of what the fate would be and for how long the war will continue. The Indian embassy has been able to facilitate the return of 200 Indian tourists stranded in Bethlehem through the road route by the Egyptian border, it is learnt,” Jyoti Mayal, board member, Faith said.
The instability in the region is also forcing travellers in Europe for a rethink of their plans but there have not been significant cancellations or postponements of plans for Europe as of now, a tour operator executive added.
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Updated: 10 Oct 2023, 12:03 AM IST