According to a statement made by the Tourism Ministry to the press on Sunday, Israel will allow small foreign tour groups from any country that is not classified as a Red country to visit as of Sept. 19.  The new regulation is part of a pilot program that is aimed at kick-starting the tourism industry up once again.

The tour groups will be allowed to include between 5 and 30 people from countries on Israel’s green, yellow, or orange lists. The groups will be allowed to enter the country with the provison that all members have either been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or recovering patients within the past six months, or have been vaccinated or recovered earlier but who received a booster shot within the past six months the tourism ministry said.

Foreign tourists must show proof of the above. Additionally, the groups of tourists will also have to present a negative PCR test that was taken not more than 72 hours prior to their arrival. They will also have to undergo a serological test once they land at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport which will cost 127 NIS if done at the airport or can be done by recognized private companies including United Hatzalah.

The ministry said that travel agents and tour operators can submit requests for groups from five to 30 tourists, as was the case before the program was temporarily halted due to increased morbidity in Israel and around the world as a result of the coronavirus Delta variant.

The program, which is a continuation of the paused program from the spring, does not limit the total number of foreign tourist groups allowed into the country.

Individual tourists will still not be allowed to visit Israel unless they are visiting family members of the first relation. Individual tourists have not been allowed to visit Israel since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic there in March 2020.

In May, amid a drop in COVID-19 infections, Israel had allowed in small tour groups. More than 2,000 visitors arrived, mainly from the United States and Europe, raising hopes of recovery within a tourism industry battered by the pandemic.

The ministry said, “not one COVID case was identified among the groups” that entered after the restrictions were eased in May. It said it hoped individual tourists would be allowed to visit in the near future, “depending on morbidity rates in Israel and around the world”.

But the initiative was paused in the summer due to the rise of morbidity and the spread of the Delta variant.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)