- International tourists without booster vaccination will be able to enter Israel.
- Tourists without the third COVID-19 vaccine shot will be required to be a part of tour group.
- New Israeli foreign tourist entry requirement goes in effect tomorrow, November 9, 2021.
Israeli government announced today that foreign tourists without a booster shot against COVID-19 will still be allowed to enter Israel, but only as part of organized tour groups.
Foreign visitors without booster vaccination will be able to enter Israel if more than six months have passed since they had gotten the second shot, Israel’s health and tourism ministries said in a joint statement.
Those visitors will be subject to a number of conditions though, the ministries said.
The tour group must be granted permission by the tourism ministry to enter Israel, and its members – five to 40 people – should be from countries with a favorable epidemiological situation and vaccinated with the vaccines recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The new requirements will be effective starting tomorrow.
Israel opened its borders from November 1 to individual tourists inoculated with WHO-recognized vaccines – those by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Sinovac and Sinopharm – provided for they did not travel to countries classified as “red” zones over the past 14 days.
Starting from November 15, tourists, vaccinated with Sputnik V Russian-made vaccine, are expected to be allowed to enter Israel. They must take a serology test, which detects antibodies.
Reopening Israel’s borders is seen as a vital step to somewhat restoring Israeli tourism industry, which has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying restrictions.
Welcoming the decision to now allow tour groups into the country without a booster shot, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said today that “also with regard to tourism, we need to learn to live alongside the coronavirus.”
Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said, “The road to returning tourists is still long, so we must act quickly and correctly in order to increase the number of tourists who come to Israel.”
