Pia Aboud's touring business, Discovery Beyond Borders, had already been hit by three crises in her native Lebanon. “The coronavirus outbreak occurred all over the world, but Lebanon also experienced an economic crisis and the Beirut explosion. [in 2020]and now it's war [in] Gaza and Palestine affect southern Lebanon and the region in general,” she said via WhatsApp.
Mr. Aboud has not led a tour since October 7, when the war between Israel and Hamas began. Now, seven months later, she doesn't know how long she can keep the business going. “How resilient should we be? Every year brings a new surprise, and each time we think it can’t get any worse, but it does.” ” she said.
Jordanian guide Ahmad Alomari had just returned home from hiking guide training in Utah and Wyoming when the war began. Events that were expected to be crowded during the high season have been canceled one after another. Alomari said bookings are down 90 percent compared to 2022. He said: “He was thinking of selling the farm and investing.''[side] But at the same time, everything in Jordan is affected and no one is interested in buying it,” he said.
Bassem Salah, co-founder of Great Wonders of Egypt Travel, has also seen a sharp decline in bookings since October. “The conflict in Gaza is having a negative impact not only on our culture but also on beach tourism,” Salah said. In all three countries that border Israel, the war has spilled over into tourism, a key pillar of the economy.
Tourism was on the rise
When the war began, Lebanon was still facing its worst economic crisis since the mid-19th century. This economic crisis was caused by a combination of factors, including increasing debt, political instability, and fiscal mismanagement. However, thanks in part to the “tourism boom,” the situation was improving by the summer of 2023. After several months, tourists stopped coming and the World Bank predicted that Lebanon's economy could slip into another recession.
Travel in Egypt was also on the rise. After the economy was hit by soaring grain prices related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, 2023 was one of the best years on record for the country's tourism industry, but tourist numbers were not as high as expected and hopes were low. The government has announced that it has not. You will have to return until US and European travelers return.
Jordan's tourism industry was still booming in 2023, but in November there was a 90% drop in tourists from the United States, and tourists from the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain have also largely stopped coming. According to Hakim Al Tamimi, Director of Western Europe and Adventure Travel at the Jordan Tourism Board, 4,531 Spanish tourists visited Jordan in September 2023, but only 747 in February 2024. visited. The decline in visitors is especially noticeable for economies like Jordan. , he gets 14.6 percent of the gross domestic product from tourism (by the way, the United States in 2023 reached 2.9 percent).
Travel companies and hotels have been forced to lay off workers, leaving workers with few employment options in Jordan's fragile economy. “Many of the things that respectful Westerners take for granted, we simply lack,” Al Tamimi said. “We don’t have a concept of unemployment checks.”
A journalist who recently visited Wadi Rum reported having a glamping property completely to himself.
What's it like to travel to Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon now?
World-famous sites such as Petra in Jordan, the Roman ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon and the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt are largely empty, according to recent visitors and site operators. “It's actually a great time to travel,” says Salah of Egypt's Wonders.
Yulia Denischuk, a freelance journalist who has visited Jordan many times over the past seven years, said that when she visited Jordan in February, there were almost no people in Wadi Rum and her favorite accommodation, Rum Planet Camp. He said there was no one else there. “It was very surreal. Jordan is always calm, but it was even calmer now that there were no tourists,” she said. “But it was also eerie and heartbreaking to find out.” [war] It's happening right near where we were standing. ”
Carolan Emery, a teacher who went on a week-long diving trip from London to Egypt in February, said she had a great time in Hurghada and Dahab and plans to return in October this year. “Honestly, apart from the Palestinian flag, you never know there's a war going on next door,” she says.
Travel journalist Davey Sutton, who visited Lebanon on a 33-hour stopover in mid-October at the beginning of the war, said a short trip was not enough. “She wanted to stay a week because we only had two days,” she said.
At the time of writing, the U.S. State Department has listed Jordan as a Level 2 travel advisory, or “use caution,” and Lebanon and Egypt are listed at Level 3, or “Reconsider travel.” The highest level is 4, which is a “do not travel” advisory.
The Roman ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon are traditionally popular cultural attractions for tourists.
Photo by Chloe Christine/Unsplash
Travel to the Middle East is not expected to return en masse as long as the war continues, but some industry insiders see signs that not all travelers are holding back. There are some people.
Travel company Intrepid said bookings for tours to Egypt and Jordan were “strong” and Alexandra Bax of Wonder Women's Retreats said a May 2024 trip to Jordan for 14 women was sold out. Ta. “We are definitely doing a lot to reassure our guests about traveling to Jordan at this time and have offered to speak directly to some of our guests' families who are hesitant,” she said. I did. “While the current situation across the border is heartbreaking, we are confident that our customers in Jordan and Egypt will not be affected. If anything, the number of spectators will be smaller than usual and our hands will be opened even wider. right.”
The situation is different in Lebanon. Lebanon has seen frequent missile launches over its southern border (Beirut, Egyptian Red Sea towns, and a US military base in northeastern Jordan on the border with Syria have also been hit by airstrikes). Abboud, of Lebanon's Discovery Beyond Borders, doesn't expect business to pick up for at least a year, but her booking calendar is no longer empty. “She will be hosting three groups over the next two months,” she said. “But I can’t deny that I still worry every day that something will happen and cancel it.”
“Honestly, we go from day to day without any predictions or long-term plans,” she said.
