Hundreds of tour guides, travel marketers, trip planners and hotel and transportation workers joined forces to protest outside the Knesset and Finance Ministry on Thursday, demanding immediate government support for small businesses in the struggling tourism sector.
The protest, organized by 14 different professional associations from across the tourism industry and tourism-dependent sectors, called on the government to look beyond the airlines, hotel chains and large travel agencies, and to provide suitable financial assistance.
“The government forgot about 25,000 small tourism businesses that have anywhere from one to 10 employees, which provide about 90% of the infrastructure that brings tourists to Israel,” Yoni Shapira, chairman of the Israel Incoming Tourist Guide Association and an organizer of the demonstration, told The Jerusalem Post.
“No tourist comes to Israel because of the flight, hotel room or travel agent that organizes the facilities. Tourism is an experience that you dream about, pay a lot of money for and only experience when in location with your tour guide, going on kayaks or jeeps, experiencing the markets, restaurants, food and wine. That is what brings people to Israel and takes them back as happy customers who will tell their friends.”
Israel welcomed an unprecedented 4.55 million tourists in 2019, breaking annual records for a third consecutive year. Foreign visitors contributed approximately NIS 23 billion into the domestic economy, according to the Tourism Ministry.
Demonstrators’ demands included the extension of unemployment benefits for industry workers, financial assistance via the Tax Authority’s property tax compensation fund, a dedicated government-secured tourism industry loan fund, the development of a multi-year plan to revive incoming tourism and the allocation of marketing budgets to tourism companies encouraging both domestic and foreign tourism.
Among the participating associations in the protest were the Israel Incoming Tourist Guide Association, the Association of Israeli Transportation Companies, Restaurants Stronger Together and the Association of Tourism Marketers.
“We’re calling for the Tourism Ministry to create a forum to represent all these 25,000 small businesses, to ask for budgets, to ask for an immediate injection. We’re looking at the long-term need, rather than the short-term,” Shapira said.
“In my view, the government has neglected the industry. It is great that hotels have been upgraded, but money needs to be where 90% of the tourism industry is located, from those small businesses. Our slogan is: ‘Tourism is the ventilator of Israel’s economy.’ We need to start reviving it.”
Organizers opted to hold the protest on May 14 due to the additional significance of the date, said Ari Gottesmann, founder of hi-tech and tourism-focused marketing agency Nomadigo.
“May 14 was the day that the State of Israel was founded – we all had a dream to come here and do something, and so do those in the tourism industry,” Gottesmann said. “Tourism is the diplomatic Iron Dome for Israel. When somebody comes here and sees Israel for themselves, it changes their mind about what they might read in the news.”
Gottesmann also expressed fears regarding the mental health impact of long-term economic uncertainty for many business owners and workers.
“People don’t realize that tourism is an export. It is worth a tremendous amount of capital,” he said. “How do you replace the NIS 23 billion taken out of the economy? What about the multiplier effect? When people aren’t traveling or spending their money, then the hotel doesn’t receive it, the cleaner doesn’t receive it, the taxi driver doesn’t receive it and more.”