Palestine Pitches Tourism Resilience in Berlin, With Advisories Unmoved

Palestine brought its tourism recovery pitch to Berlin on Thursday, hosting the first Palestinian-German Tourism Forum at the Embassy of the State of Palestine with backing from Germany's development agency GIZ — while Germany's Foreign Office still advises against travel to Gaza and the West Bank.

That gap between commercial ambition and official risk assessments framed the entire event. Ambassador H.E. Laith Arafeh opened the forum alongside Palestinian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities H.E. Hani Al-Hayek, diplomats, Bundestag members, German development cooperation officials and tour operators who had traveled from Palestine, Germany, other European countries and Africa. Arafeh said he wants the forum to become an annual platform connecting the two industries.

His framing was unusually direct. Tourism, he argued, is "not a luxury" for Palestine but an economic lifeline — and a means of preserving Palestinian identity, history and heritage. He described tourism as being about the right of Palestine to be recognized, seen and understood beyond the headlines, citing Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Jericho as assets whose greatest treasure may be the people themselves.

What happened to the industry?

The timing is brutal. Palestinian tourism had only begun recovering from COVID-19 when the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent conflict delivered a second shock.

Participants described hotels operating without meaningful visitor numbers, restaurants cooking mainly for their owners' families, and guides who spent years learning languages and Holy Land interpretation suddenly without the international clients their livelihoods depend on. The businesses and skills, however, have not fully disappeared.

What did the workshop propose?

GIZ — Germany's international development agency, working for the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) — supported a workshop built around seven success factors:

• Diversifying products and income: heritage routes, local experiences, traditional fashion, community products
• Improving market access: B2B partnerships with international travel companies, digital distribution, public-private cooperation
• Rebuilding local economic connections so tourism spending stays in Palestinian communities
• Retaining professional skills: guide training, storytelling, language development, train-the-trainer programs
• Environmental and climate resilience: water and energy efficiency, sustainability certification readiness
• Crisis preparation: risk assessments, continuity plans, referencing Jamaica's Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre and possible coordination with Jordan
• Local ownership and inclusive benefits, with communities as participants rather than passive beneficiaries

These are workshop proposals, not funded and implemented programs. The distinction matters.

Can safety concerns be squared with sales?

One session tackled the hardest commercial question: how responsible travel becomes viable when travel advisories, perceived risk, actual conditions and insurance requirements don't align. The framework separated what operators control — routes, suppliers, procedures, communication — from what they merely influence and what remains outside their authority, such as government warnings and insurers' underwriting.

Palestinian operators argued their communities are welcoming, with some comparing everyday street crime levels unfavorably to New York. True or not, low crime doesn't neutralize the risks of military operations, movement restrictions and sudden closures. As of November 13, Germany's Foreign Office warned against travel to Gaza and the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem from that specific warning while still advising against travel there. Switzerland differentiates geographically, with exceptions for East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

A destination's own safety assessment, however confident, cannot substitute for government advisories or valid insurance coverage. The credible path, participants suggested, is demonstrating how risk is assessed, managed and honestly communicated — not a campaign declaring the destination safe.

What's next on the calendar?

The forum's published program lists a Palestine get-together at ITB Berlin on March 17, 2027. A Dutch publisher also launched the first edition of a magazine called "Palestine," produced with Palestinian and German cooperation support — a storytelling asset aimed at market visibility.

Participants also discussed 2030–2033 and its potential significance for Christian pilgrimage, tied to roughly two millennia since the period associated with the ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. No finalized multinational commemorative program exists, and the dates carry differing interpretations. Realizing that opportunity would require access, safety, investment and functioning infrastructure, not promotion alone.

The Berlin gathering's real value, should it recur annually, would be measurable commitments, commercial partnerships and transparent reporting — turning resilience rhetoric into distribution relationships that survive the next crisis. Palestinian participants weren't asking for sympathy, organizers stressed. They wanted their industry treated as an industry with a future.