Published: 4 October 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Company adds small print denoting “conflict-affected area”; Israel says it dissuaded company from using harsher wording.
Online travel agency Booking.com added warnings on Friday to listings in West Bank locations. The new alert, a small text advisory at the top of search results, urges customers searching for rentals to review their government’s travel advisories before booking in the area, “which may be considered conflict-affected.”
It applies to both Israeli settlements and Palestinian locales.
The advisory does not appear in individual listings, only in search results for a specific settlement, city or town.
A spokesperson for Booking.com said the company plans “to roll out banner notifications in more than 30 regions over the next few months to ensure that customers have the information they need to make informed decisions about destinations they are considering, which may be categorised as disputed or conflict-affected areas and which may pose greater risks to travellers.”
She added that such a banner has already been introduced in Northern Cyprus, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Booking.com had originally intended harsher wording, potentially marking the region as “occupied” and saying visits entailed “human rights risks.”
The ministry claimed credit for intense work it said dissuaded the company from using such wording.
Photo: A Booking.com search for the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim shows a new travel advisory banner (Screenshot)
READ MORE
Booking.com introduces travel warnings for Israeli, Palestinian West Bank properties (Times of Israel)
