Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
National
ROSSELLA TERCATIN

COVID: Announcement on allowing tourists into Israel expected next week

Photo by: HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90

A detailed announcement about allowing vaccinated tourists into Israel is expected at the beginning of next week, a Health Ministry’s spokesperson said Wednesday.

Israeli borders have been closed to foreign nationals for a year and a half – with very limited exceptions, such as first-degree relatives of citizens and tourist groups allowed under a pilot by the Tourism Ministry.

The Tourism Ministry is working on a plan to allow vaccinated tourists into Israel starting from the beginning November. A spokesperson said that the proposed outline is currently being examined by the Health Ministry.

Inoculated tourists were supposed to be let in starting from July 1, but after the surge in morbidity the plan was postponed to August 1 and then put on hold.

The details of the outline are still being discussed but tourists will likely need to meet the criteria currently set for Israelis to be considered fully vaccinated – either two shots within the previous six months or a booster – and to be inoculated with a vaccine recognized by Israeli health authorities.

Travelers at Ben-Gurion Airport in March - to bring tourists back to Israel is not an act of lunacy. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS)

In September 2021, 34,500 tourists entered Israel, the Tourism Ministry said Wednesday. That's 128% higher than the number of visits in September 2020, when the country was locking up due to the coronavirus pandemic, but 91.5% less than the 405,000 visitors in 2019, during the holiday season before the pandemic began.

Zev Stub contributed to this report.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.