Tourist overnights at hotels totaled 1.6 million in the first quarter of 2007, 8% fewer than the 1.8 million in the corresponding quarter of 2006. Hotel overnights by Israelis fell 1%, the Israel Hotel Association reports. The average room occupancy rate fell by 6 percentage points to 51%. The Hotel Association attributes the decline to the persistent effect of the Second Lebanon War last summer, and because the Ministry of Tourism failed to take any immediate marketing countermeasures to bring back tourists.
Hotel Association director general Shmuel Zurel called on the government to act immediately to stop the loss of tourist markets, and to implement its promise to invest $50 million in marketing. The Hotel Association also wants the establishment of an independent marketing network with the goal of attracting tourists.
The fall in tourist overnights hit Eilat the hardest, where they were down 29% compared with the corresponding quarter. Tourist overnights in Tiberias and kibbutz guest houses fell 16%, Jerusalem - 8%; and Haifa - 5%. Tourist overnights at the Deal Sea were unchanged, and they rose in Tel Aviv and Herzliya.
60% of hotel overnights by Israelis were in Eilat and the Dead Sea. The number of overnights by Israelis in Eilat rose 4%, compared with the corresponding quarter, and by 2% at the Dead Sea. Overnights by Israelis in Tel Aviv rose 16%, but they fell 24% in Jerusalem.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 25, 2007
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