Business in Brief

During August, only 72,000 Israelis visited Turkey. That's a drop of 20% from the same month last year, according to that country's tourism ministry. It is also true the figure represents an upswing compared with the first months of 2009. Then Israeli tourism to Turkey, normally a favorite holiday destination, was decimated by the double whammy of the global economic crisis and the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead. The war was sharply criticized in Turkey, including by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the backlash, Israeli tourism fell 71% in March 2009, compared with March 2008, for example. (Irit Rosenblum)

Ofra Strauss, the chairman of Strauss foods group, has been named one of the most influential women in the global business scene by the Financial Times. Strauss made 12th place in the newspaper's first such rating. The Financial Times noted the company's successful expansion beyond Israel and entry into new areas such as packaged salads and savory snacks under Strauss' stewardship. The No. 1 woman on the list is Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of Pepsico, and second on the list is Andrea Jung of Avon Products. (TheMarker)

Bank Leumi will be terminating the positions of up to 300 people employed by other companies to integrate computer systems, starting immediately and ending by the start of 2010. The bank, which had outsourced much of its computerization work, says the terminations, starting with 60 after the holidays, follow completion of a project to install and integrate its "Lev" information-management computer system. The people in question work mainly for Matrix and IDS, as well as for Malam. Leumi said it employs subcontractors by project, which means sometimes it needs more people and sometimes less. (Sharon Shpurer)

A top executive with HSBC has bought a penthouse apartment in the Blue project in Tel Aviv for NIS 30 million from Canada Israel. Blue Tel Aviv is located between the Mandarin Hotel and the Glilot intersection. So far Canada Israel has sold 70 apartments in the project's Phase 2, usually for up to $6,000 per square meter. Among the buyers are lobbyist Boris Krasny, Beinleumi chief executive David Granot and former Delek Real Estate CEO Ilik Rozanski. (Arik Mirovsky)