Travel Industry For Palestine is a call by and for the travel industry to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the oppression of the Palestinian people

Travel Industry For Palestine Statement of Solidarity

February 7, 2024

For years now, the travel industry has adopted an aspirational role of advocating for humanity’s better nature. Those of us who are actively participating in this industry, whether as hospitality partners, publishers, thought leaders, content creators, or journalists, have all bought into the notion that we believe in a world where humans are viewed as fundamentally equal and where they are treated accordingly. This is the world we aspire towards, and this is the world, we say again and again, traveling helps us come closer to.

During the 2020’s summer of widespread racial reckoning, many of us came out to state, unequivocally, that Black lives matter and that, as a society, we must do better. We described how we will do better inside the travel industry, how we will examine the impact racism has had on the systems we operate in, and how we get closer to the world in which everyone is treated as a human being, regardless of their race.

Because we hold these beliefs, we cannot stay silent today.

Palestine matters. While bloody conflicts have always been part of our lives, it is perhaps the first time in history that a killing of an ethnic group has been documented with such painful clarity, with such overwhelming evidence, with such nonstop tenacity. 

If seeing this cry for a stop to genocide from Palestinians directly wasn’t enough, if they were somehow seen as biased to record and call out their own extermination, we only need to turn to a third party: the country of South Africa, itself not a stranger to apartheid and systematic oppression, which has collected and presented the evidence to the International Court of Justice at the Hague. There is no confusion: the government of Israel is committing an act of genocide against the Palestinian people.

As travel industry leaders, we cannot advocate for respecting diverse cultures, peace, and prosperity for all in one part of the world, while turning a blind eye to it in another. When close to 30,000 people are bombed to death in a matter of months during the deadliest conflict of this century, we cannot be silent. 

Albeit it has come irrefutably late in our industry, we join the global solidarity movement that calls for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the end of its blockade, and the release of all hostages and Palestinian prisoners. We echo the calls of Palestinians to address the root cause of this violence: the U.S.-supported occupation and the oppressive apartheid system that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have been living under for decades. We mourn all loss of life: from the victims of the October 7 Hamas attack to the civilians in Gaza and the West Bank and the countless Palestinian journalists, artists, medics, and academics who have been targeted by Israeli airstrikes.

“What’s happening there is not our concern,” some might say. Indeed, this practice of non-engagement is perhaps the very reason why our industry has stayed silent on calling for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza of unfathomable proportions. But this IS our concern. Israel’s military operations in Gaza are funded, in part, by US taxpayer dollars. The killing of civilians in Gaza enjoys our implicit support.

Others might still retort that we cannot be involved in or react to every crisis happening around the world. But our industry has been able to have a voice in the past when discussing natural disasters, states of emergencies, failed governments, and more. That voice is needed now.

In recent years, we have become better at discussing difficult issues that are adjacent to the act of travel itself – such as over-tourism, cultural appropriation, the impact of travel on the environment, and the implications of tourism in the Global South. And yet, too often, our industry focuses solely on the good in the world that travel, selectively, allows us to see. But there is no good without justice. There is no healing without naming the wrong. There is no true reform or transformation without acknowledging horrific crimes against humanity first. We cannot claim to be engaged citizens of the world if we continue to stay silent.

Calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and advocating for treating Palestinians as human beings with human rights is in no way antisemitic. We reject this rhetoric that for years has silenced people and has prevented real progress and awareness of this issue from being made. We reject biased reportage in the media that has contributed to the continued dehumanization of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities around the world. And while we acknowledge that both antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise worldwide, we also understand that the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Gaza does not help address this issue. It worsens it.

The land theft of Palestinian territories in the West Bank by Israeli settlers, the barrier wall that restricts the movements of Palestinians, the apartheid legal structure Israel operates, the years-long blockade of Gaza, and the killing of Gazan civilians by the Israeli government on a massive scale – these are distressing issues, but they are not as complicated as the western societies have been led to believe. Most human rights organizations, including Amnesty, OHCHR, and Israel’s own B’Tselem, agree and acknowledge this. 

It is time for the travel industry to do the same. We cannot continue business as usual. As travel content creators, journalists, publishers, thought leaders, and partners, we stand for an end to the continued genocide and oppression of the Palestinian people and we invite our peers to join us in solidarity.

Travel Industry For Palestine