Tourism industry was mostly damaged by the Corona pandemic

The Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority sought to estimate, through a survey conducted among 5,515 participants, selected as a representative section of the adult population in Israel. The survey was conducted during the month of June.
When distributing the survey participants were asked the question "Have you incurred any financial losses as a result of consumer transactions you conducted due to the corona crisis?" - Refers to a financial loss resulting from a transaction made as a consumer with a particular business. Only those who answered yes continued to answer the questions detailing the consumer harm. Out of 5,515 participants, 2,411 responded that they were harmed and detailed about 28 areas of consumption and about 3,627 transactions made.
According to consumer responses to the survey, the average average damage to a single consumer was in the field of event halls and gardens - about NIS 16,582 per consumer. This is followed by the financial services sector, in which the consumer suffered damage of approximately NIS 11,767, followed by the tourism sector - with damage of NIS 5,512 per consumer.
According to the answers, the Authority's economists made estimates based on the CBS data of the size of the population aged 18-70: about 5.24 million. The total damage, estimated according to the results of the survey, is about NIS 5.33 billion. The first, and therefore likely, is that some of the reported damages have a solution, even a partial one, which may reduce the entire damage.Either way, even a late refund to the consumer is damage.
The largest number of consumers affected is in the tourism industry and stands at about 323,000 followed by in the gym / gymnastics industry and stands at about 277,000 consumers and in the field of education, culture and entertainment, this number stands at about 255,000 consumers.
The largest damage caused to consumers, according to estimates, in total, was in the tourism industry and stands at about NIS 1.366 billion. The credit companies estimate that the Authority's estimate is too small and that the damage is much greater. An analyst at one of the companies told Yedioth Ahronoth: "The PA's numbers seem a bit low. From our past analyzes, about 50% of adult Israelis fly abroad, about 3 million Israelis, including children. Flight volumes have dropped by up to 80%. From this it can be assumed that most of the people who were used to flying did not fly, about 2 million people. They claim that only 300,000 people were injured. We believe 2-1.5 million people were injured. "Some bought a ticket and some intended to buy a ticket and did not fly."
In the area of ​​events, the damage to consumers is estimated at NIS 599 million. The credit companies emphasize that: "Regarding events, the credit companies have no information, because people pay in unsecured checks. There are about 200,000 events a year, it can be estimated that 70% are canceled. Most cancellations are made over the companies' heads, between the consumer and the company And not everything comes to us. "