n upswing in tourism to
Israel appears to be in progress, clos-
ing a disastrous year on an optimis-
tic note.
The widespread fear of terrorism
in the Mediterranean area caused by
the hijacking of TWA flight 847 in
June 1985, the Achille Lauro hijack-
ing in October, the attacks on the
Rome and Vienna airports last De-
cember and the expected fallout from
the U.S. bombing of Libya in April
of this year drove U.S. tourism to Is-
rael down 45 percent in the first half
of 1986.
But Jacob Dakar, the Israel
Government Tourist Office's director
for the Midwestern states sees a
turnaround currently gaining
momentum. It indicates that the
travelers are beginning to feel that
it is safe to go back into the
Mediterranean waters. In addition,
national efforts are underway to im-
prove Israel's long-term tourism pic-
ture.
Said Dakar, "We feel that the
industry is picking up again. The
winter may be better than we ex-
pected."
While late summer statistics are
unavailable, Dakar said that travel
agents, hotels and airlines alike re-
port an upsurge in reservations to
partially offset the early downturn.
He predicted that at the end of
1986 there will be a probable 25-30
percerft decrease from last year."
While 1985 was a record year
for tourism, with 460,000 Americans
traveling to Israel, the 1986 down-
turn was a significant reversal even
from previous years. Tourism from
Michigan during January-May was
1,829 visitors, less than half of what
it was in the same period in 1985,
when 3,846 Michiganians traveled to
the Jewish state, according to the Is-
rael Tourism Ministery.
The total number of tourists ar-
riving in Israel in the first six
months of this year was 531,900, as
compared with 649,200 in the same
period last year — a decline of 19
percent, the Central Bureau of
Statistics reported.
During the first six months of
1986, 448,600 tourists arrived by air,
as compared with 559,900 in the
same period in 1985 — a decline of
20 percent — while 75,800 tourists
arrived in the same period last year.
The local market is now picking
up, according to travel agent Reuven
Goldstein. The past month we have
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Fear is on the wane,
and businessmen plan
expansion of the
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....
seen quite an upsurge (in bookings).
El Al for October is practically fil-
led."
He said he saw no increased
reservation cancellations in response
to last week's two terror attacks in
Karachi, Pakistan aid Istanbul,
Turkey.
Interestingly, the terror scare
may have helped El Al's business.
Over the summer, the airline has
been flying at 85 percent capacity
which is a "very high load factor,"
according to an El Al spokesman.
Passenger volume was up 75 percent
in May, compared to May 1985.
In contrast, Pan Am and TWA
have been flying to Israel at 50-60
percent capacity, according to Allan
Gale, assistant director of the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit. "There were a lot of cancel-
lations last winter for the spring,"
he said of the overall travel picture.
That is less so now for the fall."
Gale, who participated in a re-
cent tourism mission to Israel for
community relations professionals,
said El Al's strong showing is due to
the airline's solid reputation for se-
curity. This security system includes
screening of passengers, tough bag-
gage checks, body searches, sending
luggage through a pressure chamber
to detonate bombs, security sweeps
of planes between flights and in-
flight sky marshals, he said. In addi-
tion, El Al flies non-stop from the
United States, avoiding changeovers
at European airports.
Fears of terrorism, if not in Is\,
rael itself, then en route, have af-
fected several local group tours to Is-
rael this year.
Temple Israel's planned trip this
past spring was "postponed," said
Frank Simons, the congregation's
executive director.
Rabbi Milton Arm of Cong. Beth
Achim will "hopefully" lead a group
to Israel in November. But the rabbi
has found few takers.
"Unfortunately, the response
has not been a very good one," he
said. "It's so discouraging, and it's
uncalled for because there's no rea-
son to manifest that kind of fear. Is-
raelis deplore the fact that Ameri-
cans are afraid to travel."
Rabbi Efry Spectre of Adat
Shalom Synagogue led a group to Is-
rael in the spring. "There were only
about 100 Americans from groups in
the hotels," he reported. "German
Continued on next page
TOURISM on the E1301IN
simmisms
DAVID HOLZEL
Stuff Writer
25