The economic impact of the coronavirus lockdown became clearer Wednesday as Israel's Tourism Ministry released devastating figures for the local tourism industry.
The ministry estimated the industry had lost about 12 billion shekels ($3.5 billion) since the beginning of the year due to COVID-19 health regulations that have not only kept overseas visitors out of the country but have closed popular tourism sites for Israelis.
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A UN estimate earlier in the year suggested that the coronavirus pandemic had caused $320 billion worth of damage to the global tourist economy between January and May.
The news is especially hard for tour guides, hoteliers, national parks and others as 2019 was a record year for tourism – in which 4.5 million tourists visited the country – which in turn exceeded the previous high watermark of more than 4 million in 2018.
In September alone, the country witnessed a 96% year-on-year decrease in the number of inbound tourists entering the country – 15,100 versus 405,000.
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Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Israel's newly-appointed tourism minister remarked that "tourism isn't just nice to have," and that opening the industry quickly could be a part of the solution to Israel's current economic challenges, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Farkash-Hacohen is reportedly working to implement two reforms; one that would enable certain cities, such as Eilat, to welcome domestic and international tourists. The second would permit family-operated guest houses, which have a smaller client base in comparison with large hotels to admit visitors again, maintained the Post.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
