IMTM 2026 Draws Bigger Crowds as Israel Tests the First Steps of Tourism’s Return
By Gabriel Colodro/The Media Line
After a restrained 2025 edition, Israel’s main tourism trade fair returned this year with a noticeably different dynamic. Foot traffic was heavier; Israeli cities and tourism operators dominated the exhibition space; and the government’s involvement focused on a central challenge: how to turn postwar stability into something that can actually move the industry forward.
At the International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM) 2026, the change was evident from the outset. There was a steady current of visitors moving between booths, and the exchanges felt purposeful. Conversations revolved around routes, packages, timelines, and operational details rather than polite reassurances. In 2025, much of the fair had the atmosphere of an industry awaiting clarity. This year, the tone was closer to actual work. No one spoke as if tourism had fully recovered, but the pace and density of engagement suggested that planning has resumed on a practical level.
The layout of the exhibition floor reinforced that impression. Israeli municipalities, regional councils, attractions, and tourism companies occupied most of the space and used it to promote specific products rather than a symbolic presence. Short stays, day trips, local experiences, and immediately viable partnerships dominated the pitches. The logic was straightforward. Recovery is not being postponed until long-haul tourism rebounds. It is being assembled incrementally at the municipal and regional levels through offerings that can operate now and scale later.
The Ministry of Tourism leaned into that domestic-first logic in its own messaging. Tourism Minister Haim Katz described the sector’s losses in plain terms, tying them to extended uncertainty and persistent travel warnings, and argued that the expanded flight supply in 2026 is creating the first workable opening for inbound traffic to restart. The ministry also outlined a refreshed marketing push, heavily oriented toward the United States and toward populations it expects to move first, including pro-Israel travelers, evangelical Christians, and Jewish communities.
Behind the public campaign, officials highlighted the less visible supports that kept parts of the industry functioning during the war, from financial frameworks linked to hotels that hosted evacuees to efforts to retain experienced staff among inbound operators, alongside domestic programs intended to keep Israelis traveling through guided initiatives.
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee reinforced that framing during a presentation for HolyLandTravel.AI. He did not argue that the war’s impact has disappeared, but described the current slowdown as an opening for visitors who have delayed travel for years.
“If you’ve ever thought about coming to Israel, come right now,” he said. “Tourism is down so substantially because of the war and all of the tension in the area. There’s no line. There aren’t hundreds of tour buses lined up waiting to get in.”
Addressing security concerns, he was unequivocal. “The question I always get is this: Is it safe?
And I say, it’s very safe. I feel completely at home and comfortable and safe in Israel,” he said, comparing the situation favorably to everyday risks in major US cities.
International participation remained below pre-war expectations, but it was broader than in 2025, and that alone marked a shift. This year’s fair included official or commercial representation from Greece, Hungary, Cyprus, Georgia, Slovakia, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, China, Taiwan, India, Zambia, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates, among others. Their presence did not outweigh the Israeli core of the exhibition, nor was it expected to. What changed was the event’s texture: more routes under discussion, more destination options, and clearer signs that some partners are willing to re-engage even before visitor numbers fully recover.
IMTM 2026, in that sense, functioned less as a declaration than as a test. The industry is determining what can realistically be rebuilt, how confidence will return in stages, and which markets will respond first. The crowded halls and the dominance of Israeli exhibitors suggested that the initial momentum is coming from within, with the state now trying to translate that internal movement into an external signal.
The process remains cautious, but it is no longer static. After years defined by contraction, the fair reflected an industry beginning to move again, not through slogans, but through day-to-day operational decisions.
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