What European Tourists Will Actually Find When They Visit Israel This Summer

Travel advisories say 'reconsider travel.' Here is what is actually happening for the tourists who are still in Israel and the hotels, tour operators, and airlines managing an impossible situation.

The European travel industry's relationship with Israel in the spring of 2026 exists in a state of suspended animation. Airlines are maintaining routes with dramatically reduced capacity — enough to bring out European nationals who want to leave and to maintain some revenue, insufficient to support the normal tourist traffic that Israeli hospitality depends on. Hotels that were running at 85-90 percent occupancy in the same period of 2025 are currently at 15-25 percent, maintained primarily by journalists, humanitarian workers, NGO staff, and the specific category of tourist who either doesn't read travel advisories or reads them and decides they don't apply to their particular situation.

The Germans, Dutch, and Scandinavians who have been most visible in Israeli tourism in recent years are largely absent. The travel advisories from Germany's Auswärtiges Amt (strongly advising against non-essential travel), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (recommending departure for nationals already in Israel), and equivalent bodies from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are being followed with reasonable compliance.

British travelers have historically been somewhat more resistant to travel advisories than Continental Europeans. The FCDO's current guidance — which recommends against all but essential travel and specifically notes the risk of missile strikes in Israeli cities — is being followed by the majority but not the totality of British holidaymakers with bookings.

The tour operators managing this situation — primarily Thomas Cook, TUI Deutschland, and a range of specialist Israel tour companies — are navigating a complex commercial and ethical landscape. Offering refunds for cancelled bookings is legally required in some circumstances but commercially ruinous across a full summer season. Maintaining bookings generates income but creates liability if clients travel and are injured. The insurance market has in many cases declined to cover Israel travel for new bookings entirely, which has the practical effect of making it impossible for tour operators to sell new packages regardless of their own commercial preferences.