LEGAL

Privacy Policy

At Bintivot Kedem, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. This policy describes how we collect, use, and protect your data when you use our website and services.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information that you voluntarily provide when interacting with our website and services:

• Contact information (name, email address, phone number) when you submit an inquiry or booking form
• Tour preferences and travel details you share when planning a tour
• Messages and communications sent through our contact form, email, or WhatsApp
• Technical data such as browser type, device information, and IP address collected automatically through cookies and server logs

Blog: Our blog does not require user registration, does not accept comments, and does not collect any personal data from readers. Blog content is published by Bintivot Kedem and is for informational purposes only.

Contact Form: When you submit a message through our website contact form, the information you provide (name, email address, phone number, subject, and message content) is stored in a secure, encrypted cloud database in addition to being sent via email. This allows us to manage inquiries efficiently and respond in a timely manner. Your preferred language setting at the time of submission is also recorded to help us reply in the appropriate language.

Weather Data: Our tour pages display real-time weather information fetched from the Open-Meteo API (open-meteo.com), a free and open-source weather service. These requests use only the publicly available GPS coordinates of tour locations — no personal user data (such as your IP address, location, or device information) is sent to Open-Meteo as part of these requests. The weather data is retrieved anonymously and is used solely for your trip-planning convenience.

Analytics: We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how visitors interact with our website. GA4 collects anonymized data such as pages visited, time spent on pages, general geographic region (country/city level), device type, and browser information. This data helps us improve our website and content. GA4 does not collect personally identifiable information. Google Analytics uses cookies (_ga, _ga_*) to distinguish users. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. For more information, see Google's Privacy Policy.

2. How We Use Your Information

Your personal information is used exclusively for the following purposes:

• To respond to your inquiries and provide customer support
• To plan and coordinate tour bookings and itineraries
• To send you relevant information about tours you have expressed interest in
• To improve our website, services, and user experience
• To comply with legal obligations under Israeli law and applicable international legislation

3. Data Sharing and Third Parties

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information with third parties. Your data may be shared only in the following limited circumstances:

• With third-party service providers who help us operate our website (e.g., hosting, analytics, database infrastructure) under strict data protection agreements. Our database is hosted by Supabase, Inc., which stores data in secure, encrypted cloud infrastructure
• Weather data displayed on tour pages is fetched from the Open-Meteo API (open-meteo.com) using only public location coordinates — no personal data is shared with this service
• When required by law or to respond to legal proceedings
• With your explicit consent

4. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law. Contact form messages are retained for up to 24 months after the inquiry is resolved, after which they are deleted unless a booking or ongoing service relationship exists. Booking-related data is retained for up to 7 years for tax and legal compliance purposes. You may request the deletion of your data at any time by contacting us.

5. Your Rights

Under Israel's Privacy Protection Law (1981), Amendment 13, and international privacy regulations including the GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Request deletion of your personal data
• Object to the processing of your data for marketing purposes
• Withdraw consent at any time for communications you previously subscribed to
• Request data portability where applicable

6. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Our website uses HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers.

7. International Transfers

As an Israel-based company serving international travelers, your data may be processed in Israel. Israel has been recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection under EU legislation.

8. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If we become aware that we have collected data from a minor, we will take steps to delete it promptly.