Israel to hire 500 Jordanians for Red Sea hotels

TEL AVIV — Israel has authorised another 500 Jordanians to work in hotels in its  Red Sea resort of Eilat to make up for a domestic labour shortage, the tourism ministry said on Monday.

"The need for workers in the hotel industry is growing as the summer season approaches," Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said in a statement.

"These are day workers who leave Israel at the end of the working day.

"The statement added that the Jordanian staff would be employed in cleaning, dishwashing and room service.

"Past endeavours launched by government ministries and the hotel industry to encourage Israelis to work in these positions were not successful," it said, adding that incentives including bonuses, housing benefits and day care had been offered.

"However, these did not result in recruiting Israeli workers into the Eilat tourism industry.

"It said the new recruits would join 400 Jordanians  already employed in Eilat hotels.

The Israeli city, which has  about 12,000 hotel rooms, is close to the Jordanian border and the kingdom's own Red Sea resort of Aqaba.

Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, becoming the second Arab state to do so after Egypt in 1979.