Crisis in The Middle East: What Does it Mean for Travel?

It’s been almost a year since the war between Israel and Hamas began, and it’s been spreading wider.

For outsiders looking in, it can appear like the whole region is in meltdown, and that travel would have ground to a halt. In reality, tourism performance varies wildly across the region, with places like Dubai still doing well, but war-affected areas doing far worse. 

Here’s what the crisis in the Middle East has meant for travel so far.

Israel 

Only around 500,000 tourists visited Israel between January and June, compared to about two million up to the same point last year. Around 10% of hotels in Israel are facing imminent financial collapse due to a steep decline in occupancy rates, according to a report published in July by the Israel Hotel Association (IHA).

Prior to the October 7 attack, Israel had high hopes for its tourism sector. In 2022, the country had 2.7 million tourists with $4 billion in spending. Israel was on track for a record-breaking year of tourism in 2023.

Egypt 

The U.S. Department of State puts its “Travel Advisory” for Egypt at ‘Level 3’ – meaning travelers “should reconsider travel” and it cites the risk of terrorism. The highest level is 4, which means “do not travel.”

But tourism officials in the country have previously pointed to continued demand. “Egypt had seen demand despite the geopolitical issues, which shows that safety is important but also how the travel professionals and the tourists are quite educated about the role of Egypt during this issue that is happening,” Ghada Shalaby, Egyptian vice minister for tourism affairs said at Dubai’s Arabian Travel Market in May.

“There is demand coming into Egypt even to all its destinations, so the numbers speak for themselves.”

Egypt brought in nearly 7.1 million tourists in the first half of 2024, on par with the same period of 2023.

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Issa, disclosed to Sky News Arabia in May that the ministry had adjusted its projections, now expecting between 15.5 million to 16.5 million tourists, down from an initial target of 18 million. This follows a record 14.9 million visitors in 2023.

Jordan

The Central Bank of Jordan reported a 4.9% drop in tourism income during the first half of 2024 compared with the same period last year.

According to Jordan’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA), hotel occupancies in parts of the country have been as low as 3% since last October. Generally, a hotel needs 50% occupancy to break even.

MoTA estimates between November 2023 and March it has lost $287 million in potential tourism spending compared to the year before. Much of this loss comes from a lack of international spenders.

Lebanon

In Lebanon, tourism data is more sparse. We know that the number of tourists arriving in Lebanon fell to 340,290 during the first four months of 2024, down from 398,186 arrivals in the same period in 2023, according to the ministry of tourism.

Dubai

The rapidly developing regional tensions cast a shadow this week over one of Dubai’s largest tourism conferences, the Future Hospitality Summit. But the crisis barely got a mention during the three-day trade show, which included 200 speakers. The UAE’s minister of economy, Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, said on stage he was “not at all” worried about the war nearby.

“We always have faced trouble,” he said. “This region always has conflict, but the UAE leadership has this sort of openness. Safety and security are one of the highest things [in the UAE]. We are in the eye of the storm.”

“The UAE’s utmost safety protocols are something we are happy and proud of. We also see that tourism numbers are growing year-on-year.”

Emirates canceled all flights to and from Iraq (Basra and Baghdad), Iran, and Jordan on October 2 and 3. Flights to Beirut are suspended until October 8. (See full roundup below.)

Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, another of the largest regional markets for tourism, numbers have remained strong despite a year of war.

Saudi Arabia saw a combined 60 million international and domestic tourists in the first six months of the year.

Tourists in the period contributed $38.1 billion in expenditure during the first half of 2024.

Hotel Groups Keep Properties Open 

Hotels are the next link in the chain to assess. Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin said during the Future Hospitality Summit that the group would not exit any region hit by war.

He said: “We’ve been existing for 50 years [so] every year we have a tragedy some place [Accor operates], every single year. Be it climate, war, or anything. I call it bumpy, muddy waters. There’s nothing I can do about it. The only thing we have done, and will continue to do, is whenever you have a tragic incident or a war incoming, we never, ever leave the country.”

“We have so many people on the ground, we want to make sure, they’re safe, they have access to hospitals, and the hotels remain open. They need us the most in times of tragedy.”

Accor has two hotels in Lebanon and four in Israel, which were accepting bookings online as of Wednesday, October 2.

Similarly, competitor IHG is keeping its hotels open in both Israel and Lebanon. IHG regional managing director Haitham Mattar told Skift: “We’re closely monitoring the evolving situation and we hope for an end to the hostilities. The safety and security of our guests and colleagues is our top priority and we have increased security measures in and around our hotels in Israel and Lebanon. All hotels remain open and operational.”

Hotel groups Hilton and Marriott did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Airlines React

British Airways canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv through October 7, saying “Our teams of experts continually monitor our global operation and the areas through which we operate, as well as regulations and government instructions. We would never operate a flight if it was unsafe to do so.”

Etihad confirmed it has canceled its flights to Tel Aviv and temporarily suspended flights to Beirut: “Etihad Airways has canceled its service to Tel Aviv on Wednesday 02 October in response to ongoing regional developments,” it said in a statement. Adding: “Etihad Airways has canceled its services to and from Beirut until 8 October in response to ongoing regional developments.”

Flydubai said flights To Iran, Iraq, Israel and Jordan will resume from October 4. “We are monitoring the situation closely and will amend our flight schedule if required. flydubai operates within flight paths approved by the regulator and the safety of our passengers and crew remains our top priority.”

Kuwait Airways said that it had adjusted the flight routes for some of its services, resulting in changes to destination timings. “This is in application of necessary security measures and to ensure the safety of passengers,” the airline said.

Air Arabia has announced they had suspended their flight operations to Beirut.

Emirates canceled all flights to and from Iraq (Basra and Baghdad), Iran, and Jordan on October 2 and 3. Flights to Beirut are suspended until October 8. The airline said: “Following airspace closures last night (1 October), Emirates has canceled some flights and diverted others. We are closely monitoring the situation and are making all efforts to ensure minimal disruption to customers, while assisting those impacted. Emirates advises customers departing or arriving at Dubai International Airport to check their flight status on emirates.com for the latest information regarding their flights.”

Qatar has temporarily suspended flights to/from Iraq and Iran destinations due to the airspace closure. The airline said: “We requests customers to check the status on qatarairways.com for travel schedules or call the contact centre on +974 41445555. The safety of our passengers remains our top priority. Qatar Airways has temporarily revised the routing of a number of flights in its operation due to the airspace closures on October 1 and requests customers to monitor the qatarairways.com website for near term travel schedules or call the contact centre on +974 41445555. Revised routing including the possibility of diversions, will have an effect on a number of international flights until all closed airspace reopens. The safety of our passengers remains our top priority.”

Lufthansa has decided to avoid Iranian, Iraqi and Jordanian airspace on October 2. This means that flights to and from Amman (Jordan) and Erbil (Iraq) will be suspended up to and including October 2. Affected passengers can rebook to a later travel date free of charge or, alternatively, will receive a full refund of their ticket price. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our passengers. Apart from this short-term adjustment, flights will continue to avoid Israeli airspace up to and including October 31.

The Lufthansa Group airlines did again adjust its flight schedules on October 1, due to the current situation in the Middle East:

• Flights to Tel Aviv will be suspended until October 31, 2024.
• Flights to Beirut will be suspended until November 30, 2024.
• Flights to Tehran will remain canceled until October 14, 2024. Lufthansa Airline has already decided to suspend flights to Tehran up to and including October 26 for operational reasons.