The tourists are back (again), and in the industry optimistic: "We have been waiting so long" | Israel today

The sky has opened, almost all restrictions on vaccinated and recovering pilots have been lifted, and as of yesterday - tourists have also returned to land at Ben Gurion Airport.

The outline will work as follows: Similar to the entry conditions for Israeli citizens, tourists who are defined as vaccinated according to the Ministry of Health can enter without isolation subject to a negative result after landing at Ben Gurion Airport (and isolation until the answer is received or 24 hours later, whichever is earlier). From an orange country Currently all countries in the world are defined as orange and there are no countries on the list of red countries, so in fact, "protected" tourists can enter Israel from any country in the world.

"The tourism industry is the national asset of the State of Israel and must be rehabilitated," said Tourism Minister Yoel Rezbozov in an interview with Israel Today. "It will not happen immediately, but we are on the right path and I am optimistic. "Risks and hunting make a life routine possible. This is how the industry, which provided a livelihood for hundreds of thousands of families and put tens of billions of shekels into the state coffers, will return to work."

The chairman of the Israel Tourist Board, Danny Amirf, added: "Hundreds of people who make a living from the industry have been waiting anxiously for this moment.

It is important to note that five percent of those employed in Israel, mainly in the periphery, make a living from it.

"I just hope that the state will be able to quickly remove irrational bureaucratic barriers, such as the requirement for a digital recovery certificate, which will prevent tens of thousands from entering the country."

"Get back on track."

Check-in at a hotel, Photo: Yehuda Ben Itach

"Beginning a recovery journey - for the fifth time"

In the aviation and hotel industries, they breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, with the lifting of restrictions on passers-by at Ben Gurion Airport. "An Israeli who is protected from Corona in the same way," Uri Sirkis, CEO of Israir, told Israel Today, adding:

Ben Gurion Airport is actually part of the solution and not the problem, since vaccinated people can move around the world freely, and this is the main way to encourage people to get vaccinated.

As in the hit-and-run accident, the aviation and tourism industries were left humanly damaged along the way, with aggregate damage of hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Today we are starting our recovery journey for the fifth time after an unnecessary closure at Ben Gurion Airport. We believe in the righteousness of our path and anticipate peak demand within a few weeks."

The Isrotel chain also welcomed the opening of the sky and the lifting of restrictions on tourists.

"We are investing in the construction of new hotels, and in the development and rebranding of the chain with an investment of NIS 3 billion," said Lior Raviv, CEO of the chain.

"In addition, we have decided to increase our presence in Tel Aviv and establish eight hotels, because the city is considered an international brand and will become an important tourist and business destination. We do not currently anticipate a dramatic increase in incoming tourist bookings, but hope "Business and then regular tourism. Our forecast is that by 2022 inbound tourism will still not return to the numbers it was in 2019. We see no reason for prices to rise following the opening of the sky. On the contrary, prices in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Herzliya are significantly lower than 2019 prices."

According to Batya Sela, guide, "Opening the sky is a welcome step, but of course not enough. I am happy for the tourism workers to return to work in part, but the state should also open tourism to groups - which are easier to control - Unfortunately, the State of Israel has not allowed us to make a living for nearly two years. It is true that there is a corona, and there are necessary restrictions, but the capricious conduct is destructive.

"State leaders must understand that it is not possible to play like this in people's livelihoods. While in the past tourism workers received compensation from the state for denying their ability to work - compensation that was not enough but can be kept afloat - now tourism workers do not receive compensation and some of my friends, especially sole earners. "We have to understand - the guides are the face of our country to the tourists. Our industry brings in many billions every year. In addition, it can not be that whenever there is uncertainty, we are the first to close."

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