Intrepid travelers visit Israel despite US warning

By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff, 11/24/02

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The US State Department strongly advises Americans not to travel to Israel, but Virgil Kocher and his wife are going anyway as part of a tour to Egypt in January.

"My wife and I have wanted to go to Israel and Egypt for a long, long time," said the 71-year-old Kocher, of Chesapeake, Va. "Right now is not the calmest time, but no place in the world is totally safe."

No place may be totally safe, but Israel? Nearly every week there is a new report of violence, whether it's a bus being blown to bits, an army attack on a West Bank town, or a mother and her children being shot gangland-style at a kibbutz.

Israel would seem to be one of the most dangerous spots on the planet for a tourist. But a minority of travelers like Kocher and his wife continues to go. They acknowledge the world seems more dangerous today, but they're not letting that stop them. I wondered why.

The US State Department tells Americans to stay away from Israel, but if they do go the agency's most recent travel warning advises extreme caution.

"Avoid locations such as restaurants and cafes, shoppings areas and malls, pedestrian zones, public buses and bus stops or other crowded venues and the areas around them," the warning says. "American citizens should be particularly careful in Jerusalem, where frequent terrorist acts have occurred and the potential for terrorist bombings remains high. Americans should also avoid large crowds and demonstrations."

The warnings and the escalating violence in Israel have scared most tourists away. Numbers are not available for this year, but government officials say the numbers are unlikely to improve much. Last year, the number of tourists visiting Israel dropped 54 percent, to 1.2 million.

Most tour operators have stopped taking groups to Israel, and those that continue to go there have scaled back their operations considerably. IsramWorld in New York, one of the largest tour operators serving Israel, says its business is off 70 percent.

Grand Circle Travel of Boston offers the tour that the Kochers plan to take in January. The tour goes to Egypt, with side trips offered to Israel and Jordan. The Grand Circle side trip to Israel costs $595 and includes air fare from Jerusalem to Cairo, five nights in a first-class hotel, 10 meals, and six days of guided sightseeing.

Mark Frevert, coordinator of trips abroad for Grand Circle, said he expects 1,200 to 1,400 people to take the Egypt trip next year, with 10 to 15 percent of them taking the side trip to Israel. That's half as much as in past years.

Kocher has read the State Department warnings on Israel, but doesn't seem overly concerned about them. He says he and his wife are familiar with how the government sometimes overreacts. He worked 20 years in the Air Force and his wife served in the Foreign Service. He thinks it's unlikely he and his wife will be in any danger.

"My odds of getting hit by a skateboard going down the street are about as good," he said.

William Vance of Daytona Beach, Fla., took the Grand Circle trip to Egypt, Israel, and Jordan in October. On the leg to Israel, it was just he and another couple from San Diego. They visited all the major tourist sites, traveling in a minivan with a guide.

"We didn't have any problems," Vance said. "The security in Egypt was much more obvious."

Gail Barzilay, deputy director of the Israeli government tourism office in New York, said tourists are safe in Israel. "In Israel, tourists are not targeted," she said. "Nothing can be guaranteed, but in all this time they have not targeted tourists."

Charles Radin, the Globe's reporter in Jerusalem, said he sees tourists starting to return to Jerusalem. He said they've never stopped coming to Eilat, the southern port city on the Red Sea.

"There are very good rates these days, and tourists have not been targeted," he said. "My take is if you stay off the public buses and avoid ground zero in Jerusalem and the hottest clubs and coffee shops there is very little risk. Some tourists are getting wise to this."

Frevert of Grand Circle said older travelers have been through wars and the Depression and are not as easily intimidated by State Department warnings and news reports of unrest. He said he believes American travelers in general are learning to cope with a changed world.

"People are becoming more and more accustomed to the world being a volatile place," he said.

Another tulip seizure

My column two weeks ago about Frances Gillespie having her tulip bulbs from the Netherlands seized by US Customs officials struck a chord with Jason Simon of Kenilworth, N.J.

Simon said customs officials also seized bulbs he purchased in the Netherlands when he returned from a trip there. He said his bulbs were seized because he had an old inspection sticker on them, but three co-workers with the same stickers were passed through with their bulbs.

Although the US Department of Agriculture's Web site offers conflicting advice on bulb importation, a spokeswoman said bulbs must be stamped with the special new sticker.