Israel's Tourism and Transportation ministries are rolling out a new plan to combat the current employee shortage in both of those areas.
Recent shortages have caused significant congestion all over the country, particularly at Ben-Gurion Airport due to newly-loosened travel restrictions for foreign tourists.
The ministries are calling on private companies and businesses in the sectors of tourism, transport, aviation, border control and other relevant areas to post any open positions on a website that is going to be set up. This will, ideally, function as a central database for those looking for jobs and provide employers with a tool to advertise vacant positions.
The plan also includes a marketing campaign to encourage members of the Israeli public to consider careers in the tourism, transport and aviation industries.
Tourism and Transportation team up
“The lines in Ben-Gurion Airport, the standard of service in hotels that has been affected and many other problems caused by the shortage of employees, demand of us creative solutions," Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said in a statement.
"Therefore, together with my friend, Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli, we are embarking on a process that will connect the public to vacant jobs in tourism-related industries, such as aviation and border control.”
Background
El Al Airlines has reported difficulty in rehiring employees to recover from the layoffs it made during the period of Israel's tight COVID-19 travel restrictions. This, coupled with Ben-Gurion's struggle to handle increased traveler capacity, has made travel in and out of Israel particularly arduous lately.
Israel has also seen multiple bus driver strikes this summer. Drivers made the claims that their pay is too low and they do not feel safe on the job, and have called on the Transportation Ministry to do something about these issues.