Organizations running educational trips to Israel have faced a number of setbacks in recent years — first from the COVID-19 pandemic, then from the wars with Hamas and Iran (and Iran again) and now from the strengthening of the shekel against the dollar.

A new study by the Israel Educational Travel Alliance is bringing the financial strain on the educational travel sector into sharper view, revealing that organizations running educational trips to Israel have absorbed cumulative cost increases averaging around 75% since 2019. That figure combines a roughly 55% rise in program operating costs since the pre-war, pre-COVID period, with an additional 20% or more in recent months as the U.S. dollar has weakened against the shekel. 

The study, compiled from annual provider surveys and additional reporting since January, notes that approximately half of all hotels in Israel remain closed, limiting inventory and driving up hospitality costs even as tourism has declined. Airfare remains expensive and difficult to secure, especially for groups.

For trip providers, the numbers translate into immediate and significant losses. Adina Frydman, CEO of Young Judaea Global and an IETA advisory committee member, said her organization set prices for its gap-year program last year when the shekel was trading at 3.6 to the dollar. It has since dropped to 2.96 at the time she spoke with eJP. 

“Nobody could have predicted it would go down to 2.9,” she said. “That exchange rate “represents hundreds of thousands of dollars of loss.” 

Young Judaea, a Zionist youth movement founded in 1909 that has operated trips for 75 years, expects to bring 300-350 participants to Israel this summer, down from a typical 500-700. “We are still holding our breath,” Frydman said. “This is the nature of what has happened over the past couple of years.”

Emergency costs have compounded the financial challenge. When the regional conflict escalates, providers absorb costs related to evacuation logistics, rerouted programming, additional security and staff pulled into military reserve duty — expenses insurance rarely covers. During a recent flare-up in the war with Iran, Young Judaea had to relocate gap-year participants and create unplanned programming on the fly. “Our head of operations was in [the] reserves for hundreds of days,” Frydman said. “It all adds up. It’s a cumulative impact on the sector.”

During recent escalations, IETA provided 24/7 support to programs on the ground, coordinated with the Jewish Agency for Israel and Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs on participant safety and ran weekly field-wide calls so providers could share information and make decisions in real time. It also worked with Arkia, an Israeli carrier, to secure flights during evacuations in February and has been advocating to government partners and the philanthropic community on behalf of the field. IETA’s operational role has been meaningful — particularly for smaller organizations without the infrastructure or financial cushion to navigate crises alone — even as the broader structural challenge remains unresolved.

On the longer-term question of how to close the financial gap that is shrinking the field, the study’s prescriptions are less defined. In a statement to eJP, IETA’s executive director, Anna Langer, who is also vice president at Jewish Federations of North America, said no single intervention will reverse the cost increases, and described a range of ongoing efforts: conversations with government partners about El Al pricing, exploration of fixed-price arrangements with ground operators and outreach to funders. 

“We are raising broader cost pressures — including hotels, ground operators, tour educators and especially the dollar-shekel challenge — and exploring tools such as supplements or fixed-price arrangements,” she said. 

No specific funding commitments or policy timelines were announced alongside the study.

“The economic losses that Israel travel providers face will only be closed by the combination of philanthropy and government support,” Frydman said. “We will not be able to solve this by raising costs and putting them on participants — no one will be able to travel to Israel.” A three-and-a-half-week summer program now runs around $7,000, including flights, and up to $31,000 to $32,000 for a gap year, airfare not included. Both figures are expected to rise. RootOne, which partners with major youth groups to provide subsidies that make immersive experiences more affordable, offers grants for short-term Israel programs but does not currently provide them for gap-year programs. 

“If this sector collapses and fewer providers are available, and fewer people travel, that will have a multiyear impact on Israel travel, Israel education, and Jewish identity,” Frydman said. “This could be catastrophic.”

On the ground in Israel, meanwhile, program partners are doing their best to think on their feet and adapt as the situation demands. 

“Trips that have stayed the course are thankfully still arriving this summer, and we are working together with them to try to mitigate any cost-related challenges that have come up,” Lorne Klemensberg, vice president of Routes Travel, told eJP. “We see some future trips that are currently in the planning stages perhaps looking to slightly shorten the total number of days due to potential all-around cost increases. We are working with these organizations on looking at various ways to possibly modify the programs without impacting the educational goals and participant experience. For us, that’s non-negotiable.”

IETA says it will continue working with providers, funders, federations and government partners. And while the study makes a strong case for urgency, it remains unclear whether IETA — or any Jewish organization — can move the needle on the biggest drivers of these costs. The dollar-shekel exchange rate, inflation inside Israel, the expense and availability of air travel to Israel, and the chronic unpredictability of regional conflict are forces that operate well beyond the strategy, resources and advocacy of the Jewish world.