The statement of Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman is not the straw that will break the back of the camel of the local tourism industry, but it has certainly contributed to raising the threshold of despair. The Minister of Finance recommended that the guides change professions. Just like that.
Discussing the compensation required for the tourism industry, Lieberman said at the cabinet meeting “The problem is the small hotels that were based on inbound tourism. We need to check the scales. “A significant number of mentors have already changed field.”
This statement was joined by Minister Merav Michaeli’s statement that under compensation “it is legitimate to sacrifice the tourism industry”.
The reactions were not long in coming, and they even agitated those involved in the industry to go out in protest. Today, those involved in the industry are invited to a demonstration that will take place at Ben Gurion Airport. Protest organizers from the Facebook group “Front Inbound Tourism” invite all those involved in the industry and those who make a living from tourism to demonstrate against the “closure of Israel.”
Regarding what was said by the ministers, Kobi Karni, chairman of the Association of Travel Ministries, said: You have a new job! We are in our profession much longer than you and probably also do our job much better! You will be ashamed that this is what you have to tell us after two years of dealing with the corona plague! “
“I have been a travel agent and owner of a travel agency since 1986,” said a post by veteran agent Eli Bergman. “It is very easy from the top of the salary and pension of a Knesset member or minister to give an order to make sacrifices, a custom that I think stopped even during the period of the destruction of the house.
“I fought in the Israeli wars, I was wounded and I have been disabled by the IDF for almost forty years. Maybe if I had not survived the wars, the honorable ministers could have claimed I was a victim. At least if I were a victim of war – my children and lovers would know to tell what I sacrificed my life for. Do you think we should volunteer to submit the neck? We will not be victims of Knesset members or ministers, we will not be victims of Norwegian law and we will not be victims of the plague.
“Travel agency owners own dental factories, invest a lot of money out of their own pockets to prevent the collapse of their life enterprise, and you insolently and irresponsibly sacrifice us as a victim?”.
President of the Hotel Association Avi Nissenkorn said: “On behalf of the tens of thousands of hotel workers in Israel who have been in intense turmoil for more than two years and between hope and despair and in the name of hundreds of thousands who make a living from tourism and hotels in Israel, I strongly protest against the statements It is illegitimate for them to sacrifice the tourism industry and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers in Israel.
“In the hotel industry, part of which has not opened since the beginning of the crisis, billions of shekels have been invested in infrastructure and training for decades.
According to Ephraim Kramer, CEO of Eshet Tours: “The words of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Transportation are a severe and unnecessary injury to the Israeli tourism industry, and endanger the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Israelis who work directly or support the industry – travel agents, hotel workers, drivers On incoming tourism. “In the last month, almost a million foreign tourists have arrived in the United Arab Emirates, while Israel is sleeping and missing tourists who choose sane destinations and will no longer come here.”
Regarding outbound tourism, Kramer added: “This is a self-imposed goal – if you want to encourage vaccinated people, you should give them relief when going abroad and not the other way around. The complete lack of planning and understanding that we see in the Ministry of Transport over the years also exists in the Ministry of Finance. “While they do nothing to lower hotel prices in Israel, they deprive the public of a favorite consumer product – and force Israelis to give up their vacation or pay dearly in Israel.”