The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a pall over Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, all but shutting down the biblical town revered as Jesus’ birthplace at the height of the normally cheery holiday season.
Missing are the thousands of international pilgrims who normally descend upon the town. Restaurants, hotels and souvenir shops are closed. The renowned Christmas tree lighting service is to be limited to a small group of authorized people, as with church services on Christmas Eve.
“Bethlehem is dead,” said Maryana al-Arja, owner of the 120-room Angel Hotel on the outskirts of Bethlehem.
Photo: AP
The hotel was the site of the West Bank’s first COVID-19 outbreak — when a group of Greek tourists came down with the virus in March.
She kept her 25 workers on staff for several months, but ultimately could not continue to pay them.
Al-Arja, who herself was infected with the virus, said she that has been forced to close the hotel and lay off the entire staff.
“We had 351 tourist groups booked in our hotel this year, each one 150 people, but they all canceled,” she said.
Elyas al-Arja, the head of the city’s hotel association, said that Bethlehem received about 3 million tourists last year.
With Israel, the main entry point for international visitors to the region, banning tourists because of the virus, and the West Bank’s border crossing with Jordan closed to foreigners, that number is close to zero this year, he said.
“Sixty percent of the city relies on tourism, and their income disappeared when the tourists disappeared,” said Elyas al-Arja, a cousin of the Angel Hotel owner.
The Ambassador Hotel, which is near the Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, has reopened one floor in hopes that some local visitors might want to come celebrate in the coming weeks.
Mahmoud Tarman, the hotel’s receptionist, said that the Ambassador has brought back eight of its 60 workers to serve local guests.
However, with the West Bank’s economy devastated by repeated lockdowns, it remains unclear how many people will come.
“At this time of the year, this empty hotel would be bustling with life, but as you see, there is no life, not even a Christmas tree yet,” he said, pointing at the empty lobby.
The health ministry has reported a total of about 65,000 COVID-19 cases in the West Bank, and more than 620 deaths.
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