TORONTO — The rockets from Gaza may still be flying – although not to the extent they did a month or two ago – and there is no longterm ceasefire in place, but travel maven Ehud Telem says this is a good time to travel to Israel.

“Israel is 100 per cent safe, except for the areas surrounding Gaza,” he said from his Thornhill, Ont., office. “They [Hamas] still have mortars and a primitive arsenal that was left, and the Iron Dome takes care of anything more serious out of there.”

Telem, president and CEO of Peerless Travel, acknowledged there were plenty of cancellations of planned trips to Israel in the wake of the conflict with Hamas. “About half the people booked to go have cancelled,” he said. “A lot left their deposits and postponed their trips.”

Air Canada and El Al, the two air carriers who fly from Canada to Israel direct, have allowed postponement of the trip for up to six months without penalty, he said.

But the conflict – and the images portrayed in the media – has scared off many people. “We were getting calls from customers that there are one or two people in their group who are terrified, but most still want to go,” he said.

 In some cases, half the people in family groups pulled out. But the other half went. As of early August, “there were four families in Israel on a family tour. They’re still there. We managed to convince them to go and they’re having the time of their lives,” Telem said.

“We have lots of people in Israel right now. As we speak, we have 200 to 300 people in Israel who booked and went and are happy.”

Peerless leads all tour operators and travel agencies in the number of people it books to Israel, Telem stated. “We send 10,000 people to Israel every year.”

Prior to onset of the Gaza conflict, Israel’s Ministry of Tourism was anticipating a record year, with as many as 3.7 million visitors to the country. Haim Gutin, the Ministry’s New York-based Israel tourism commissioner for North and South America, told The CJN that number might now come in closer to 3.2 million.

Telem, an Israeli, is paying close attention to developments back home. Israeli forces have taken a “huge toll” on Hamas, killing hundreds of their personnel. “Hamas, militarily, is more or less finished. Hamas leadership is hiding in bunkers. Right now, Israel has full control of what’s going on,” he said.

 “I want to stress that from the security point of view, it’s safe to go to Israel now. There may be a couple more rockets now, but everything is around the Gaza area,” he added.

Telem said the biggest obstacle preventing visitors from travelling to Israel are the “sensational” images portrayed in the media, which “don’t reflect what’s really happening on the ground.

“A lot of people are scared. It’s not rational, it’s emotional,” he said.

So are there any deals to be had if one travels now?

There are some, but don’t expect radical discounts, Telem replied. “I don’t think financial incentives are going to make the difference. People who want to come will pay the price. Yes, we can get better deals, but there’s no closing down sale.”

“Israel has experienced this kind of ups and downs in the past. There were two intifadahs, the Lebanon war, three operations in Gaza, and every time it happened there was a downturn in tourism, but it came back with a vengeance.”

From 2000 to 2014, tourism almost doubled in Israel, he said.

“It slows down for a while, then it comes back. Nobody’s going to panic and drop their prices to the ground.”

Christian groups, which generally plan their trips for the fall, are waiting to see how things develop. Others are as well, Telem said.

“I think there will be a surge in the next couple of months of bookings and we’ll get back to where it was before,” he added.