Ben Gurion strike cost $10M as Tourism Ministry warns of reputational harm
Israel’s Finance Ministry estimates that Thursday’s strike at Ben Gurion Airport cost about NIS 30 million ($10 million), Kan News reported, as the Tourism Ministry warned of further reputational damage.
The estimate takes into account lost fees and charges from canceled flights, lost economic output tied to disrupted vacation plans, delays in air cargo shipments and a range of other factors, the report said.
Meanwhile, Tourism Ministry Director-General Michael Yitzhakov told Kan News on Friday that tourism numbers have only recently begun to show a relative improvement since the start of the war, with about 5,000 tourists currently arriving in Israel each day.
“This creates a terrible image for the State of Israel,” he said. “There is no need to explain how badly tourism has been hurt over the past three years.” He added that the strike disrupted the lives of more than 100,000 Israelis.
