Illustration: evacuees. The people photographed in the photo have no relation to the article/image processing, Reuters
In recent days, an old hospitality company, TLV2GO, sent a letter to the hundreds of evacuees who are staying with it, in which it foretells that it will be forced to ask some of them to vacate once more - because two and a half months later, in which the Ministry of Tourism has not transferred the payment for the services provided to the evacuees, "the company has reached the limit of its flow capacity and is in real danger of existence".
This is an old family company that was established about 15 years ago by two young entrepreneurs. Since the beginning of the Iron Swords War, the company has hosted in its properties over 500 men, women, children, families of abductees and captives, who were evacuated from their homes in the north and south of the country and some of them were even referred to us directly by the ministries of tourism and defense.
We will recall that at the end of February, the Ministry of Tourism announced the suspension of payments to accommodation apartment owners who, according to the claim, "reported false reports and received a rate much higher than their actual entitlement amounting to tens of millions of shekels".
"There is no choice but to make difficult decisions in this complex period"
In the letter sent, the CEO of the company wrote to the hundreds of evacuees: "Since the Ministry of Tourism's announcement, I have done everything I could to get the answers we deserve - starting with contacting senior officials at the Ministry of Tourism, repeated inquiries, using the media and even personal help from you, but without success. As of January 15, 2024, the company is financing the stay and service of approximately 300 evacuees in all company buildings from its private pocket. The hosting costs amount to millions of shekels that were paid privately and without any assistance from the authorities or other private organizations. Today, after two and a half months without payment for the services rendered, the company has reached the end of its cash flow capacity and is in real danger of existence.
" which he announced on 12.03.2024. As part of the clarification of the classification, we submitted in a detailed and comprehensive manner references to all the requirements that arose from all the factors in the Ministry of Tourism, in addition to a frontal audit that was carried out in all our properties. However, more than two weeks have passed since then and the Ministry of Tourism continues to conduct itself with opacity and insensitivity, both towards us directly and towards you indirectly. Even our request for an advance payment that will be able to give us the little air flow that is required to survive and allow you to stay in the company's accommodation units, remains unanswered, so there is no choice but to make difficult decisions in this complex period."
"As the CEO and owner of the company, I assure you, Because I did and am still doing everything in my power to prevent the termination of the hospitality of all the families evacuated by the state as part of the Iron Swords War. However, in order to avoid bankruptcy and the dismissal of 40 employees, the Ministry of Tourism left me no choice but to conduct an in-depth assessment of the situation while mapping the guests Those staying in the company's accommodation units in order to enable immediate income and avoid the worst. In the coming days, we will contact some of you personally and individually and with great regret and difficulty, we may have to end the accommodation period of some of you as part of the evacuation of the Iron Swords War."
"These are false reports, a solution will be found for every evacuee"
The Ministry of Tourism claimed at the beginning of March that these were false reports that had been arrested, and that a solution would be found for each person who would be evicted from those rooms. The ministry stated that "Recently, the Ministry of Tourism conducted an audit of the companies' reports regarding the type of accommodation facility that was declared and from which the payment rate was derived. In some cases, a strong suspicion arose that companies reported false reports and received a much higher rate than they were actually entitled to. These are discrepancies that reach tens of millions of shekels of public funds." .
"Therefore, the ministry froze the payment to these companies and at the same time extended the contract with them for another month (until the end of March) when the payment will be made at a rate according to the findings at the end of the investigation. It should be noted that there is no shortage of rooms or accommodation apartments and a solution will be found for each evacuee. As eviction notices have been received, we The evacuees are urged to contact the Ministry's HML and get an alternative."
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