Abstract
International tourism in Palestine has been economically and culturally undesirable because it has been subject to political turmoil over the past decades, and its tourist arrivals have not fully capitalized on the potential that the region holds. This is compounded by the negative image that the media has developed about Palestine concerning instability as opposed to actual reality (stability, security and safety) and as such, it has become essential to disseminate the right image. The purpose of this study is to lay emphasis on the Palestinian tourism industry in light of the investigation about image and behavioral variables influencing tourist loyalty in Jerusalem. The current article presents analysis of an empirical study which is connected to destination image, tourist trust, Israel’s risk and political stability with tourist loyalty in Jerusalem, Palestine. The results from a pilot study indicate that the entire measures achieved high-reliability coefficient that ranged from 0.897 to 0.955, based on Cronbach’s alpha coefficient test; they all exceeded 0.70’s benchmark with no significant deviation of skewness values from zero. It can be concluded from this study that the problem of perception may represent a challenge to many potential destinations like Jerusalem, and this may require significant investment in tourism promotion. The destination has to create awareness amongst potential visitors, and it must do so in an increasingly global tourism market.