Nine executives at Israeli travel agencies have been arrested on suspicion of fixing the price of trips to former concentration camps, including the notorious Auschwitz camp. The Israeli education ministry received identical quotes from at least six companies after enquiring about taking high school students to visit the Holocaust memorials.
It is alleged that the travel agencies were aiming to artificially inflate prices by organizing prices before responding to the request. Investigators have said that homes have been raided and bank accounts have been frozen, according to BBC News.
Every year, thousands of Israeli students travel to Europe to visit the former Nazi death camps, with many considering the trip a rite of passage.
The idea that such a sombre form of tourism would be the subject of controversy such as illegal business practice is likely to be shocking for many in Israel, if the allegations prove to be true.
Around six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust, with more than a million people—mostly Jews—killed in Auschwitz alone.
This week, it was reported that a former Auschwitz medic—aged 95—will stand trial for is participation in the deaths of over 3,600 deaths.
