Corona Virus .. Israel fears an economic crisis that begins with the tourism sector

Mohamed Mohsen Wedd - occupied Jerusalem

Israel expresses its fear that the tourism sector will be affected by the emerging Corona virus, and does not exclude the possibility that its economy will suffer during the year 2020 huge losses if the epidemic spread around the world.

Amidst these fears, which were reflected in the estimates of many researchers and specialists in tourism and economics, the government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, was quick to impose strict measures on the movement of arrivals and travelers through Ben Gurion Airport to prevent the arrival of the virus, where three Israelis were infected with the virus.

The Ministry of Interior recommended not to travel abroad except in cases of necessity, which was reflected in tourism, as airlines reported that by the end of February 2020 they had canceled future trips, and a 50% decrease in tourism trips to all parts of the world was observed.

Fears and actions
Israeli airlines are afraid to continue canceling and declining the number of reservations of tourist packages and airline tickets from Tel Aviv to various countries of the world, due to fears of transmission of infection in airports and airplanes.

The Ministry of Health also issued a decision to impose a two-week quarantine on everyone who comes from Italy, China, East Asian countries and regions experiencing an outbreak of the virus, and that there are more than nine thousand returned from countries announced by the Ministry that it is spread in Corona and put in a home quarantine.

Despite these measures and immunization mechanisms to prevent the entry of the virus, its repercussions are leaving fingerprints and effects on the tourism sector, and also warns of heavy losses to the economy, due to the volume of trade exchange between Tel Aviv and China at an estimated ten billion dollars annually, and with East Asian countries tens of billions.

Profit and loss
Official data indicate that in 2019, it recorded a record number of foreign tourism to Israel, with 4.5 million tourists pumping the Israeli economy and tourism nearly seven billion dollars, knowing that the expectations for the year 2020 are to continue the tourist attraction, as it was expected that Israel will reach about 250 thousand tourists Only from China.

According to specialists and researchers, Israeli incoming and outgoing tourism - in light of the outbreak of the virus around the world - will face the biggest crisis in its history, due to the suspension of flights to the Far East and China, and the cancellation of tourist packages for hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists, during the Spring Festival, Jewish holidays and the Hebrew Passover, in Next March and April.

In order to reduce the amount of damages and losses and prevent the collapse of the current tourism season, Israeli tourism and aviation companies offer the local and international market hundreds of dollars in tourism packages, bearing in mind that the tourism sector has incurred losses of three hundred million dollars so far, according to a monitoring of the website, "Macor Rishon".

Markets and sectors
Yehuda Zafrani, a lecturer in tourism and aviation, believes that if the next two months of the Corona virus is not contained, the tourism and aviation sector will witness an unprecedented crisis whose repercussions may extend to various economic facilities.

The Israeli lecturer recalled the SARS virus in 2003 and the losses it caused to the global economy worth forty billion dollars, indicating that the reality under Corona is completely different, as China has developed and opened more to various markets of the world, including the Israeli markets, and that Beijing is an important destination for the global tourism movement.

Therefore, Zafrani estimated that the global economy’s losses due to corona could reach five hundred billion dollars, and the global tourism sector could lose a hundred billion, saying, “These numbers are difficult to imagine on the ground, because the damage will not only affect the tourism branch but also other economic and commercial sectors.”

China and Israel
With regard to Chinese tourism to Israel, Zafrani believes that the current tourist season has become lost because of Corona and cannot be saved because the tourist groups are organized for months and not overnight.

To compensate for this, the Israeli specialist says, "Hotel companies are seeking to attract Israeli tourists by selling discount tourist packages." Note that thousands of hotel rooms are vacant due to cancellation of global reservations.

He pointed out that other Israeli commercial and economic circles are anxiously awaiting the announcement of containing and eliminating the virus by finding a vaccine, so that the losses do not affect other sectors.

Crises and recovery
For his part, believes the crisis tourism expert d. Eran Keter: It is not possible to estimate the magnitude of losses on incoming tourism and the crisis that will afflict the aviation and transportation sector and hotel, and therefore must prepare for the stage after the eradication of the epidemic to recover quickly from the crisis and compensate the losses.

He pointed out that the Israeli airlines are also afraid to continue canceling and declining the number of reservations of tourist packages and airline tickets from Tel Aviv around the various countries in the world, due to the fear of infection in airports and airplanes.

It is believed that Israel and to prevent the collapse of the tourism season for the next two months should not close crossings and airports or impose strict measures on the entry of tourists, especially from countries that were not classified as infested, indicating the need to direct tourism from China, the Far East and Italy to Israel with the start of spring and holidays.

The tourism expert concluded his speech that the rise and recovery of Israel from the crisis and losses will be faster, for example than in northern Italy, and believes that for Israel to recover quickly and compensate for losses, it will have to market reduced global tourist packages, establish festivals and international exhibitions, and market unique and distinctive religious tourism content and sites.