Tuesday December 1, 2015

I've Been Thinking:

The conflict between Russia and Turkey has significant ripple effects.

For example, Russia is no longer importing fruits and vegetables from Turkey. The official reason for the ban is contamination of the imported produce. We, of course, know that the real reason is that Turkey shot down a Russia air force bomber.

This is a huge loss to Turkey. 20% of Russian fruits and vegetables are imported from Turkey.

Russia announced that they will pick up the difference by importing fruits and vegetables from Iran and Israel. This, in turn, will be a big boon for Israeli produce exporters.

At the same time, Russians love to escape the cold winters and they were accustomed to fleeing to Turkey. Turkish hotels and charters included very inexpensive, all inclusive, deals. No Israeli hotel can compete with the price, the service, or the standard that Turkey easily provided.

Never the less, the Israeli Hotel Association is lobbying for a huge immediate investment of government tourist advertising funds in an effort to woo this potential new tourist pool. Some Russians might be swayed to come to Israel despite the significant price difference. But most will not.

Also taken off the agenda for Russian vacationers are the chartered, all inclusive trips to the Sinai. ISIS took care of that when they blew up a Russian vacation charter jet killing 224 people.

Sinai was another perfect place for Russian to vacation during the cold winter. And again, the hotels in the Sinai were luxurious and inexpensive.

One night in a 5 star Jerusalem hotel is the cost of a week in Sinai or Turkey.

But at least Israel, along with Iran, will be providing tomatoes to Russia.

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