Israel and Turkey at war?

by Peter Lyukimson, Israel. Exclusively for VK

Are Israel and Turkey at war? This is not a real military confrontation. Israeli hotels plan to start a war against the Turkish ones for Israeli tourists, as well as tourists from Russia and other CIS states.

The frontline of the new Israeli-Turkish confrontation will most likely run along Eilat, the northmost resort of Israel. “There is an alternative to Turkey!” is the main commercial slogan of the “war”. Many Eilat hotels switch to the all-included system and are trying to resemble Turkish hotels, offering a wide range of concert programs at night and special programs and care for children.

The concerns of Israeli hotels are understandable. Ever since the Counter Terrorism Bureau of Israel lowered the danger level of visiting Turkey to the minimal, hundreds of Israelis rushed there. It seems as though their numbers will grow. Moreover, Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov declared 2012 the Year of Russian Tourism and plans to do his best to make Israeli resorts preferable to the Turkish ones. The question is how would he manage to do that, even taking into account that a visit to Israel would position itself as recreation at the sea and as pilgrimage to holy sites.

It is a financial problem, as usual. Israeli economists say that even after reduction of prices for hotels in Eilat, Tiberias and the Black Sea to the minimum with the all-included system, Israeli recreation is still more expensive by 13-20% than it is in Turkey. Israeli hotels tried to convince domestic tourists that overpaying for a room saves money that would be spent on traveling. But Turkey reduced the ticket prices for flying from Tel Aviv to Istanbul to $70.

In other words, the war has been declared and the winner is not obvious yet. Hopefully, these will be the only type of wars in the world.