Robin and Jon Sirkin were preparing to celebrate their son Eitan’s bar mitzvah in Jerusalem in late September. There was a “Dr. Who” theme, and an ice-cream bar for the reception at the synagogue after the services. As part of the celebrations, Robin’s brother, sister, aunt and cousin were planning to make their first trip to Israel. She booked a trip to southern Israel and a meal at one of Jerusalem’s most expensive restaurants for 15 people.

Three weeks ago, just after the cease-fire was declared between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, they all cancelled their trips. Sirkin, who moved to Israel from Cleveland three years ago with their four children, said she tried to convince them that the cease-fire would hold, but to no avail.

“It’s devastating and heartbreaking and feels unsupportive,” Sirkin said. “I think they’re overreacting, but we have a different sense of security here.”

She said they held off telling their son that his relatives had cancelled, hoping that as the big day he approached he would be more excited about the ceremony and the party, and less disappointed.

“He was a little sad, but he’s trying not to focus on that,” she said.

The Sirkins are not alone. Mark Feldman, CEO of Ziontours, says that the seven weeks of fighting between Israel and Hamas over the summer has devastated tourism for the rest of the year, except for the Jewish holidays this month, and Christmas. Feldman said they lost about 2,000 bookings, and most of the time waived the cancellation fees.

“Tourism for the rest of 2014 simply doesn’t exist,” Feldman said. “Now we’re looking toward 2015, and hoping the government will begin to lay the seeds to allow tourism to begin to come back.”

He blames the media, at least partially, for the sharp drop in arrivals.

“It’s a psychological issue — the media was talking about war and missiles and those images have to be erased,” he said. “Now there is a chance for the media to do stories about the Jewish holidays and more peaceful events, and we hope that will begin to bring tourists back.”

Until the fighting with Hamas began, 2014 was set to be a banner year for tourism. Last year, the total number of visitors to Israel was 3.6 million, and this year they were aiming for 3.8 million. Now the total for the year is expected to be down by 20 to 30 percent, says Israel’s Tourism Minister Uzi Landau. He said that this year, Israel opened two new high-end hotels, the Waldorf-Astoria in Jerusalem and the Ritz Carlton in Herzliya.

“The loss from incoming tourism will cost us two billion Israeli shekels (more than $570 million)”Landau said. “During the military operation we went into a campaign for domestic tourism called “precisely now, a vacation in Israel,” and the response was excellent.”