The Middle East vacation business was already troubled when scores of Iranian missiles flew toward Israel earlier his month. Fighting that began a year ago after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks had not only continued, it was regionally widening.
The missile barrage was enough to convince tour operator Collette to cancel upcoming tours, not just to Israel but to neighboring countries. It told customers that it was canceling its 16-day Egypt and Jordan itinerary through Oct. 31, due to recent escalations in the region
But reflecting some of the nuance of the region, the company said that its Egypt-only trips would continue as planned.
A few years ago, the Middle East was seen as a potential rising star by tour operators eager to package its history, culture, ancient wonders and desert landscape for North Americans seeking fresh vacation adventures.
But the harrowing, yearlong Israel-Hamas war has put those plans on hold. While not all tour operators have canceled Middle East departures, virtually all of those contacted by Travel Weekly said that interest has dwindled and business has sputtered since the attacks.
At G Adventures, “Our sales to the region have certainly slowed somewhat over the past six to eight months,” said Sean Benner, one of the company’s product directors. “We do continue to actively promote and operate our tours in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Turkey safely and confidently.”
Likewise at Wilton, Conn.-based Tauck, bookings are down for Egypt and Egypt/Jordan trips, said marketing communications manager Tom Armstrong. “We did see a significant number of cancellations immediately after the Oct. 7 attacks, and we continue to see some softness there,” he said.
Among the casualties of the tourism downturn are suppliers in the Middle East that invested in infrastructure in hopes of growth. Hotels were built, motorcoaches ordered, tour guides hired and trained, and computer systems modernized. Those assets are now withering on the vine, one operator said.
Most North American tour operators are hanging tough by continuing with their planned tour schedule. Instead of pruning their offerings, they are typically combining slow-selling tours or merging weak departures with better performing ones.
They’re also turning to greener pastures.
Like other companies, EF Go Ahead Tours has seen a slump in bookings. “With the noted exception of Turkey, where travel remains popular for a country that is also within Europe, travel demand to destinations in the Middle East continues to be down year over year,” said Lael Kassis, vice president of market development. But Kassis said demand is shifting toward Go Ahead tours in Latin America and Asia that offer a fresh experience with fewer perceived risks.
In a survey for another EF brand, EF Ultimate Break, some 30% of travelers ages 18 to 35 cited Mexico and Central and South America as good places to book a guided tour in the next several years, compared to just 7.5% for the Middle East.
Not all travelers are shying away from the region.
Lori Derauf, owner of Vacation Designers near Madison, Wis., said people open to going to the Middle East tend to be more adventurous anyway. “The clients that I do have that are booking further afield are kind of more intrepid travelers,” she said. “They’re not afraid to go just about anywhere.”
And after an immediate downturn after the Hamas attack last October, EF is not the only company that has seen demand come back for Turkey, which doesn’t share a border with Israel.
Foreign visitors to Turkey plunged from 5.8 million in September 2023 to 2.5 million in November 2023 and bottomed out at 2 million in January 2024 before steadily rising month by month, to 6.8 million in August, the latest data available.
About 1.3 million Americans vacationed in Turkey last year, making up 2.5% of all foreign visitors, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Global visits to Turkey are up 7.1% through the first eight months of the year.
Egypt river cruising
Another area that saw significant investment before October 2023 was river cruising on the Nile, with several operators having built ships for the increasingly popular waterway.
River cruise operators said that after demand plummeted for Nile sailings shortly after the attacks, people are starting to come back.
But since Oct. 7, it can still be a tough sell, said Pam Hoffee, president of Avalon Waterways.
“Demand definitely took a hit a year ago,” she said. “We lost about half of the guests we had booked for 2024 at that point.” The spring season was most affected, with cruises this fall holding up better.
“People have recognized that Egypt has not been affected by this,” Hoffee added. “With time, people grew more comfortable.”
On a recent investor call, Viking Holdings chairman Torstein Hagen said Americans “have been surprisingly willing to go to Egypt,” where Viking operates 10 ships on the Nile. “Of course, it has been a little bit hurt on the occupancy, [but] it’s been picking up again,” he said.
The impact on Israel
To be sure, the country most impacted by the heightened Middle East conflict has been Israel itself. Collette isn’t offering tours there until 2026. Any remaining tours in Israel tend to be with smaller, country-specific operators.
G Adventures’ Benner said the company suspended its operations in Israel at the beginning of the fighting.
“We remain vigilant and eager to return when possible,” he said. “However, it does not look likely in the near future given recent events and escalations.”
As damaging as the war has been to the tourism economies of the Middle East, the impact on tourism worldwide has been muted, said Julia Simpson, CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council.
“Currently, in terms of travel and tourism, it tends to be affecting the countries directly involved and some countries like Jordan and some parts of Egypt,” Simpson said in an address at the WTTC Global Summit in Perth, Australia. “But actually, it’s not impacting on the global position of travel and tourism as it is today.”
Johanna Jainchill contributed to this report.
