International Tourism Down, Taxi Drivers Forced To Price-Gouge Israelis (PreOccupied Territory)

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Ben-Gurion International Airport, November 28 - Deprived by the consequences of an ongoing war of clueless visitors from abroad whom they can fleece by charging unreasonable rates, local cab operators find themselves struggling to generate the same extra cash by doing the same to the more seasoned, long-term residents of the country, an industry group reported today.

A spokesman for the Organization of Navigational Automotive Associates (ONAA) shared its members lament this morning that the lack of tourists since last October 7 has all but crippled taxi drivers' opportunities and abilities to gouge naive passengers with inflated prices, since the only remaining marks for the venerable scam are locals who are wise to any such attempts to defraud them.

"It's difficult to adapt to this situation," acknowledged Rami Ramai, ONAA's deputy director. "On paper, the standard, metered rate for a trip from the airport to, say, Jerusalem is a few hundred shekels, assuming only light traffic on the highway. On paper, that's supposed to cover the fuel, wear and tear, maintenance, insurance, and registration costs, plus a reasonable profit. But regardless of what the meter might say, often the driver and passenger will negotiate a flat sum for the trip in advance. Still, that's perfectly fine, and drivers know their lower limits. But again, that's just on paper - in reality we don't want merely a reasonable profit. We're here to exploit the innocent."

Ramai explained that while seasoned Israelis will not fall for the "I give you big discount" line, enough tourists do, resulting in flat sum notably in excess of what drivers can expect from local customers - and some drivers have become dependent on the extra income from fleecing foreign visitors, principally Americans. With the war since October 7, 2023, scaring off many airlines, foreign tourist traffic has decreased markedly, and with it, the opportunities to score exploitative profits from travelers - and putting nearly half of ONAA's members in a financial bind.

"A lot of us are still paying off mortgages, or loans for the taxis themselves," noted Ramai. "Even those who don't have to worry about those problems, most of them, are still reliant on the price-gouging to make the difference between mere subsistence and some measure of a comfortable lifestyle. Gouging tourists became, however informally, a fixed part of many families' budgeting. Now we have to find ways of separating less-gullible people, cynical and suspicious Israelis, from their money, and it's not easy."

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