Why are Russian tourists more often denied entry to Israel?
Russian diplomats are concerned about frequent refusals to enter the country Israel Russian citizens, including travelers. This is reported by RIA Novosti, referring to the representative of the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv.
According to the representative of the Embassy, in the first half of 2018, the Israeli authorities did not allow 2.2 thousand of our compatriots to enter the country. For comparison: in 2017, there were 1.4 thousand such cases.
According to the source in the diplomatic mission, concerns were caused by cases of rough treatment of Russians at the border, who are denied entry. There are reports that they are being held in custody before being sent home – such complaints have increased.
The Russian Embassy said that the answers about the reasons for the refusals did not satisfy the diplomats. The Israeli authorities claim that the reason for this is that Russians often apply for political asylum, coming to the country as tourists, the number of these requests in the first half of 2018 increased to 1,344.
The situation will be discussed at interdepartmental consultations scheduled for October.
Tour operators who work on the destination agree with the trend but say people who have been denied entry are aware of the reasons. “Normally, tourists who are denied a visa already have a history of relations with the Israeli authorities, resulting in denial of entry. Very often we encounter cases when tourists change their passport or several letters in the spelling of their surname or name and again try to enter Israel in order to get a job, says A. Filatovskaya, Director of advertising and PR at ICS Travel Group.
In 2017, more than 397,000 Russian citizens visited Israel, and the flow of tourists from Russia to the destination increased by 40%.