• The Israel-Hamas war is affecting traveler confidence and bookings   

Americans are canceling trips that are thousands of miles from Gaza. Here's why.

The Israel-Hamas war is affecting travel across the Middle East and beyond.

International arrivals to the region grew in the fourth quarter of 2023 ' mainly owing to increased visitors to Saudi Arabia ' to a level that matched 2019 numbers, according to the travel data company ForwardKeys.

But it's a far cry from the 30% rise in inbound travelers the region expected compared to 2019 levels, based on the number of airline tickets purchased before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the company said. '

The outlook for 2024 doesn't look much different.

"The forward-looking situation for arrivals to the Middle East in the first quarter of 2024 as of 6 Oct. ' the day before the recent conflict started ' was very positive, with tickets issued up by 49% vs pre-pandemic levels,' said Olivier Ponti, the company's vice president of insights. "Fast-forward to 5 Jan. ' with tickets issued now up by just 9% vs. 2019."

Canceling plans a continent away

Yet, the war's effect on travelers extends far beyond the Middle East, according to a survey from Morning Consult.

The data research company surveyed some 2,200 Americans in November, with one in five people saying they have delayed, rescheduled or canceled a travel booking as a direct result of the Israel-Hamas war.'

Respondents said these plans included visits to the Middle East (12%) and North Africa (7%), as well as Western Europe (14%), according to the survey. However, the bulk of the cancelations ' 41% ' were for trips within the United States, the survey showed.

Cancelations were high for domestic trips because most Americans travel within the 50 states, thus 'there are simply more trips on the table to disrupt,' the report stated.

But as to why the war is making Americans feel uneasy about traveling in their own country, the report stated: 'This is also emblematic of the larger tensions ' for example, concerns related to antisemitism and Islamophobia ' stoked by the conflict, and peoples' resultant apprehension to venture far from home.'

Following Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, tensions spilled over to college campuses, workplaces and suburban neighborhoods, with many countries reporting a rise in hate crimes against Muslims and Jewish people.

A worldwide travel advisory, issued by the U.S. State Department less than two weeks following Hamas' attack on Israel, may have affected traveler confidence as well, the report stated. Some 62% of respondents said they knew about it.

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