Tourism and Social Media

As a Licensed Tour Guide involved in Tourism to Israel for over past 30 years, I’ve been blessed. My specialty has been Private Tours. My clientele has consisted primarily of small business groups, multi level family tours, adults, seniors and a mix of all of the above. At the end of each tour, I have asked each and every tourist to write a review of our tour on Trip Advisor, or post comments and/or pictures to my Facebook page. 98% have done so. I’m proud to say that I have received glowing reviews.

Many of my former tourists read and used the reviews posted to Trip Advisor to check me out. They would tell me that the reviews really helped them to choose me and my touring services over others. Truly, for me, this was an inexpensive and wise investment. Recently, however, I noticed a change.

In the last few months, I’ve had a few touring families who were brave enough to come to Israel. They were willing to come and tour. For some it was their first trip, others had been here previously. Despite many airlines not flying due to the security situation, these families came to Israel and toured the country with me. Yet at the end of the tour when I asked them to post a review on Trip Advisor or Facebook, or to post some pictures from our tour, they balked.

One family with adult kids (ages 25-32) told me from the beginning of the tour that I absolutely cannot post any pictures of them while in Israel. Other families told me the same. It’s not just the young adults or millennials that are afraid to post photos, it’s even senior working adults in the late 60’s!

This was something new for me. Since 2017 I have posted over 600 pictures of our tours on my Trip Advisor page, as well as posts to Facebook. There was never a question of not being allowed to post photos. It was more like, “post only the ones we all look good in” (which is what I posted). Tourists have a great time seeing and experiencing Israel with me. They are surprised at how quiet and calm it is here. We travel and tour everywhere it is safe to do so (which is most of the country). We experience history, fun activities and sites, great food and more, and they are all surprised at what they are able to do and see. After all, the media in their country would rather show war scenes, and not scenes of Israelis and tourists enjoying themselves; yet these recent tourists don’t want their peers, work colleagues, or social media friends to know that they were in Israel.

Sadly, this is the result of the shaming that takes place on social media today. As soon as you mention Israel, you can be immediately harassed, ridiculed, or shunned. It does not matter if you hold a senior position in a company, university or other professional capacity. You might have a decent job within a good work environment, yet you feel that if you mention Israel in any way or tell anyone that you visited ,you will be shamed by colleagues or co-workers.

Living and working here in Israel, it’s hard for me to get my head around this. We see ourselves defending our nation, protecting ourselves from our enemies and continuing to live life to the fullest. Yes, we have lived through wars, invasions and more. We constantly strive to live peacefully among our neighbors, no matter what side of the political divide we are on. Israel ranks 8th globally in the 2026 World Happiness Report, despite ongoing challenges and the prolonged emotional strain of war. We hold our heads up high, even to those in the world who condemn us. We can do this because we live here and know what living here is all about!

It would be great if the few tourists who are coming now would tell all their friends that they will be travelling to Israel to see our beautiful country. It would be even better if, after they come and experience all the good that is here, they tell their friends and work colleagues all about their tour of Israel. It would be wonderful if after a tour, they could post pictures and reviews for everyone to see, and not be afraid.

This may be wishful thinking on my part.

For now, I invite you to come and experience Israel for yourself. I’ll be happy to lead you on an exciting tour of Israel. I will do my best to show you the beautiful and real Israel, to the best of my ability. And I won’t tell or show anyone that you were here, if you don’t want me to.