People walking down a street past closed shops in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. Tourism has largely come to a standstill since the Hamas attack of October 7th. Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFPJerusalem’s Old City, a magnet for visitors from around the world, is reeling after almost nine months of war in Gaza, which has decimated Israel’s tourism industry.
But during a recent Saturday visit to the area it became clear that a new and depressing reality has set in. The Old City today resembles a ghost town. About half the stores are shuttered. Others will open for just a few hours a day.
The souvenir shops, restaurants and hostels catering for tourists – more than one quarter of all the Old City businesses – have been hardest hit, but even the stores selling produce, clothes, phones and electronic goods to local Palestinians are feeling the impact. The cost of coffee, along with other imported goods, has shot up due to the Houthi attacks on Israel-bound shipping. “It used to cost 48 shekels for a kilo of coffee from South America and it took a month to arrive. Now it’s going up to 68 shekels and it takes four months to arrive,” says Izhiman.