Israel to remove Covid vaccination requirements for tourists
The restriction will be removed from 1 March, however, travellers to the country will still be required to take PCR tests before and after entry
Israel will remove its Covid-19 vaccination requirement for tourists from 1 March, following an announcement by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
The change will enable all tourists, regardless of vaccination status, to enter the country. However, under the new guidelines tourists will still be required to provide a negative PCR test both before departure and upon arrival.
“We are seeing a consistent decline in morbidity numbers so this is the time to gradually open up. At the same time, we will keep a finger on the pulse, and in case of a new variant we will react quickly,” Bennett said.
Israel previously opened to vaccinated tourists in November 2021. It subsequently scrapped its red list system of travel restrictions from 7 January, enabling Israelis to freely travel internationally to every country. The relaxation of restrictions marked the beginning of the end of almost two years of restrictions, after the country originally closed its borders in March 2020.
The number of visitors has slowly risen since the easing of those rules but remains well below pre-pandemic levels. According to Reuters, around 46,000 tourists entered Israel in January 2022, up from 7,800 from the same month in 2021, but far below the 333,000 that visited in January 2020.
Oliver Cuenca
Oliver Cuenca is a Junior Editor for Voyageur Group, joining in 2021. He writes for both ITIJ and AirMed&Rescue, covering a range of topics including international travel and health insurance, medical assistance provision and air medical transportation. He also serves as Title Editor of the Assistance & Repatriation Reviews. Oliver holds an MA in Magazine Journalism from Cardiff University, as well as a BA in English with Creative Writing from Falmouth University.