01/27/2021
The Current Coronavirus Situation in Israel (January 24, 2021).
Israel today announced that it will shut down all air travel to Israel until January 31, 2021 to combat new incoming strains of the virus as Israel distributes the vaccine at a rapid pace.
To date, Israel has distributed the vaccine to over 40 percent (40%) of its approximately 9 million citizens using the 2-dose Pfizer vaccine. Israel's rapid delivery poises the country to be one of the first 'green' countries in the world to renew tourism.
The Ministry of Tourism and Operator's Association (of which Samson Tours is a member) are staging the grounds for a renewal of tourism, which could occur as early as the major Jewish holidays in April.
Unfortunately, however, with so many factors at play, we cannot yet predict when travel will become fully safe from your respective country or how it might disrupt your travel on the ground and therefore will be postponing all groups currently scheduled until mid April.
Our current prediction is that travel will not resume more closer to the summer, that travelers will need to have a special type of travel insurance that covers COVID hospitalization, and that travelers will be required to be tested before departure and again upon arrival, which could result in a quarantine period at a lovely hotel for the first day. Further, at this stage we do not believe that it will be possible for groups to visit the Palestinian territories on their trips throughout 2021, as they are distributing vaccines from Russia & China which will likely require research, evaluation and time. We hope that's different!
See New York Times article: In Israel's Early Vaccine Data Offers https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/world/middleeast/israels-vaccine-data.html
Initial studies show a significant drop in infections and hospitalizations after just one dose, and very few cases after two. Experts caution that the results are preliminary.
