Sea of Galilee is rising and so is the unemployment rate in the tourist city • Director General of the Guy Beach Hotel: "Suffering from flood cancellations"
While the eyes of the entire state are worried about the state of unemployment in Eilat, its northern sister - the resort and tourism city of Tiberias, is also quietly climbing well above the national average of the unemployment rate.
Photo: Connect
The Sea of Galilee continues to climb and even threatens to overflow for the first time in 28 years. As was the level of tourism, this year's record was to break the all-time high in a city whose main economy rests on the tourism industry. But in the shadow of the Corona crisis the hotels as well as the boardwalk, the entertainment business and the resorts - are closed and have no living soul.
"I have 200 employees, in addition I also have a large water park, but now I only have seven employees and they are also in a shift," says Ruth Oren Rahman, CEO of the Guy Beach Hotel. The water slides are orphaned from water and recreation, "I also arrive The hotel has a half-size hotel, and all I do is get the cancellation flood of incoming tourism (from overseas; CPA). "
Jacob Amsalem, who owns two hotels in the city, also describes a similar picture." Donna Gracia Hotel is locked. We removed close to 100 employees from both hotels, and now there are five employees left in both, "says Amsalem.
Unlike the crises that previously hit the tourism industry in Tiberias, the Corona crisis has also seriously damaged the overseas business travel agency he owns - which he established with his brother more than three decades ago in Tiberias. "Of the 400 workers at Amsalem Tours, we let 300 workers leave. We will continue to let go of workers. At the moment, the sky is not completely closed, so we are mainly engaged in rescue flights of people who are stuck abroad. Where there is some movement across the globe, we are there trying to reinvent ourselves. "
"There's a big break here"
According to Amsalem, "There is a big break here. We will have to take a very serious test if the oxygen does not return in three months. Without a significant state mobilization of employer assistance, I do not see this city surviving. In Tiberias there are no alternatives of industry or education. Tourism. There is cerebral palsy here. I do not compete in Eilat, they are also in trouble, but Tiberias is another focus. There are cities that rely mainly on tourism and Tiberias is one of them. "
According to data from the Tiberias Employment Bureau, the rate of unemployment in the city is 32%, which is 6% more than the national average. But if self-employed people, such as restaurant owners, cafes, pubs, cruise ship and tourism businesses, are also treated, then the unemployment rate in Tiberias even exceeds the 50% unemployment rate.
"In comparison, in January 2020 the number of jobseekers in Tiberias was 1,393 and the unemployment rate was 5.7%. In March, the number of jobseekers in Tiberias jumped to 7,797 and the unemployment rate jumped to 32%. If I add the neighborhoods that most of their residents work in Tiberias, So we are already reaching 12,000 unemployed people, "explains Tomer Madar, director of the Employment Services Bureau in Tiberias.
He notes that "in addition, the rate of employees below the minimum wage in Tiberias is 10% higher than the national average. This is about 43% of the labor force in Tiberias who earn less than the minimum wage. Unemployment benefits are even lower than this wage. 84% of the new unemployed are unemployed. "T. That is, assuming that the virus is gone from our lives and all employers are repatriating the workers they took out to the USSR, then it will somehow be possible to balance back. I wish it did, but probably it will not be exactly as we hope. "
Muni Ma'atok, the head of the Tiberias called committee, which has turned to the Ministry of Tourism and government bodies due to growing distress, wants to sharpen the unique complex challenge facing Tiberias tourists. "Unlike Eilat, which is mainly based on domestic tourism (Israelis; NIS), 80% of tourists in Tiberias come from abroad. Pilgrimage is probably the last thing to come back," says Ma'atok, "I mean I won't say it's impossible for Tiberias to To return to full-time work in a short period of time, but the challenge here will be much greater than elsewhere. "
According to him, "It should be remembered that Tiberias is defined by the Ministry of Tourism as a tourist city. All the time, the crisis in Eilat and I advocate to deal with the crisis in Eilat, but the other cities cannot be abandoned. The crisis in Tiberias is very large and will be very difficult to deal with without the assistance of tourism in Tiberias Do with herself and without the assistance of foreign agents. "
"We designed Chinese signs"
In a meeting held with senior executives in the city's tourism industry, the leaders of the Tiberias hotel association ironically recalled the recent marketing project initiated just before Corona broke into our lives. "Tiberias is ranked second on the Chinese priority list. In recent months, we launched a project that the Ministry of Tourism also helped us with," says Avi Zandberg and Limor Portal, chairman and CEO of the Tiberias Hotel Association, respectively. In news this time in four languages: Hebrew, English, Arabic and Chinese. The Chinese ambassador heard about it and just waited for the first sign to be hung. We hope that the forecasts heard here that tourists from abroad will only return in a year or two will be confiscated, but in any case, the first to return There will be the Chinese. They are the first to start with the exit strategy, they have money, and they are not against Israel. Maybe they'll start to drip back in October-November. "
Whether the pessimistic predictions come true pilgrims return from abroad in the years and whether the optimistic predictions come true return within a few months, Tiberias understand that to survive they will have to fight to restore to Israeli tourists.
"Today people are crazy pressure pots, and they are eager to get out as soon as To allow, "concludes Jacob Amsalem," Departing a closed aircraft is probably a process that will take some time, so we must take care of a national project that calls on the people of Israel to come to Tiberias and experience the area. "
"Cancel VAT"
"The Sea of Galilee has risen as it has not risen in many years, so we are at a better starting point this year," concludes Ruth Oren Rahman, CEO of the Beach Hotel Guy, "but it is time to ask the government to give us a 17% VAT exemption as well To attract Israelis to come here. Eilat is no more than a danger from Tiberias. We want the collective agreement of the large government bodies to be registered so that the workers are entitled to vacation only in Israeli hotels. They must consume blue-white tourism to help the industry recover. "