The past few weeks have been among the toughest for Israel's aviation and tourism industries in the history of the state due to the containment measures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Due to no-travel and quarantine orders, major industry firms are shutting down branches and laying off workers; hotels are closing; and many of companies are ordering their employees to take unpaid leave.
Thousands of tourism industry workers are in financial dire straits, and given the rate at which the virus is spreading, the crisis appears unlikely to end any time soon.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Israel Hayom looked into the numbers and found that Israel's national air carrier El Al has canceled over 800 flights. Israir has canceled some 200 flights, with Arkia canceling at least 100.
El Al is poised to lay off or furlough some 80% of its workforce, some 5,000 employees – including 500 pilots. El Al's last report to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange indicated that the company had seen a drop of some $160 million in revenue even before Israel announced mandatory quarantine for anyone flying into Israel.
The Israel Hotel Association reported that the hotel sector expected to see monthly losses of some 1 billion shekels ($268 million) a month as hotels shut down and employees are fired or furloughed.
According to the IHA, occupancy has dropped significantly, with some 25% of rooms in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa occupied; 25%-30% of hotel rooms in Netanya occupied; 30% in the area around the Sea of Galilee; and 40%-50% occupancy in Eilat and at the Dead Sea.
In Nazareth, six out of 10 hotels have closed down.
"These numbers mean that about 10,000 employees and another 5,000 contract workers will be laid off, and another 10,000 will be put on unpaid leave," the IHA said.
Tourism operator Issta has shut all its offices and furloughed (with no pay) much of its workforce. The company, which handles travel reservations and other accommodations, is working from a single headquarters, with some employees working from home. The company's losses due to the coronavirus outbreak stand, thus far, at an estimated 15 million shekels ($4 million).
Mona Tours has put approximately 90% of its employees on unpaid leave, and it also assesses its losses at some $4 million.
All of Israel's tourism operators are reporting a mere handful, at most, of reservations in a day. Senior tourism industry officials told Israel Hayom that "If all this is over within a month, we'll suffer about a full year's worth of losses. If it goes on longer than that – everything will collapse. Totally."
Director General of the Tourism Ministry Amir Halevi said, "We in the tourism industry have learned from [previous] crises and know how to handle them. We are currently putting together an aid package that will include the entire tourism industry. In the past few years, we broke records in terms of the number of tourists entering Israel, and we are going into this crisis with a lot of experience. We will make it through and be ready for the day after."
