Already clobbered, travel industry bemoans ‘death blow’ quarantine order
Finance Ministry said to estimate that requirement could cost economy NIS 4.9 billion a month; unemployment benefits granted to tour guides, laid-off workers in tourism industry
An order forcing all people entering Israel from abroad into self-quarantine, essentially shutting down tourist arrivals and keeping many Israelis from flying, may take a massive bite out of Israel’s already smarting tourism, hospitality, and airline industries, and spread to other sectors as well.
As the order took effect, Israeli airline Arkia said it would immediately cease all flights overseas.
“This is a death blow. There is no more Israeli aviation — not Arkia, not El Al, not Israir,” Avi Nakash, an Arkia owner, told Channel 12 news.
Israir said it would continue flying abroad until the weekend to help Israelis currently overseas to return, but would then halt all international flights.
El Al was also expected to cancel most flights abroad and was holding an emergency meeting Monday evening.
The two-week order was designed to help Israel contain the spread of the novel coronavirus that has wreaked havoc across the globe, and came despite fears that it could leave some businesses in shambles.
“This is a tough decision, but essential in order to protect public health — and the public health comes before all,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Monday’s decision was expected to essentially shut down tourism to Israel, as only non-citizens with a place to quarantine for 14 days will be allowed in the country. Those already in the country will need to leave “in an orderly fashion in the coming days,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Finance Ministry assessed the new order would cost Israel some NIS 4.9 billion ($1.4 billion) a month, Channel 12 reported.
“So the Health Ministry can present the best statistics in the world [on the coronavirus], they’re destroying the country’s economy,” the network quoted unnamed government ministers as saying.
To ease the blow, the National Insurance Institute was offering unemployment benefits to tour guides and workers in the tourism industry who were put on unpaid leave, the Ynet news site said.
It also exempted employers from having to grant its employees all of their paid vacation days before they can receive benefits.
Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, director-general of the Health Ministry, said the government decided not to make the quarantine requirement retroactive, which would have placed some quarter-million Israelis in quarantine, due to fears of the economic cost.
“It seemed to us that putting over 200,000 Israelis who returned from overseas in quarantine, in addition to the hundreds of thousands who will arrive from overseas, could hurt the functioning of the economy,” he told Channel 13 news in an interview.
There have so far been 50 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Israel, most of them contracted by travelers returning from abroad. The government has for weeks ordered measures to clamp down on foreign entries and force home-quarantines that have been seen by some as draconian and diplomatically harmful, but officials have defended them as helping keep the virus at bay. Some 22,000 Israelis are already in quarantine, the Health Ministry said Monday morning.
Unlike other quarantine orders, which were open-ended, Netanyahu said the new quarantine order will be in place for two weeks. He added that further decisions were being made by the government to protect the economy. He did not elaborate.
Earlier Monday, the head of the hotel association in Israel said the industry was facing its worst-ever crisis as tourism revenues plummeted in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. Amir Hayak warned that a cash injection from the state was the only thing that could save it from collapse.
One tour guide said the problem was compounded by a lack of clear guidance from the government, and some groups were canceling ahead of time due to uncertainty as to whether they will be allowed in for their trips.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon on Sunday said that he would be presenting plans to provide credit to businesses, but without mentioning any specific help for the tourism industry.
In addition, Netanyau has vowed support for El Al, which started layoffs after massive losses in revenue due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Times of Israel Community.