KOCHI: While the departure of groups from Kerala for the Holy Land tour has come to a standstill, with all scheduled trips being cancelled until further notice, a group of 48 passengers from Piravom arrived at Kochi airport on Thursday. They embarked on the tour on October 2.
Paulose K Mathew, chairman of Travel Agents Federation of India-Kerala, said the group managed to visit all the sites as per their 10-day itinerary. As of the latest information received by TNIE,the last group in Israel too crossed into Egypt on Thursday night.
Saji Kurian, the owner of The Tour Company, clarified that none of the groups are stuck in Israel, contrary to some reports. “The group that crossed into Egypt on Thursday will stay there for two nights and then take the flight back home. Two other groups, who had left from Kochi, will be back on Friday and Saturday. The last group which was in Israel entered Egypt on Thursday. They are travelling towards Taba in Egypt. They will be arriving after five days,” he said.
According to Solomon M, who has been working in Israel for the past 15 years and is now in Tel Aviv, at the behest of the Indian Embassy, he met and interacted with two groups of visitors from Kerala at Bethlehem and Nazareth.
He spoke to TNIE over the phone.”The people in the group did not encounter any issues during their stay in Israel. All the pilgrimage sites are situated in the northern part of Israel. Therefore, the conflict along the Gaza border has no impact on these locations,” he explained. Regarding the resumption of tours, Solomon said, “If we rely on the information provided by Israeli officials, it may happen sometime in December.”