All the news about Israeli tourism
2009-06-03 - Vol 16
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Delta: considers second daily flight to New York
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The manager of Delta Airlines in Israel, Esti Hershkovitz was at Ben Gurion Airport this week for the departure of two new Boeing 777 aircraft to Atlanta and New York. She commented that Delta plans to start operating two daily flights on the Tel Aviv to New York route once there is an improvement in the world economic situation.
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Starwood removes Sheraton name from Israel
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The Starwood hotel chain is to remove the Sheraton name from four of their hotels in Israel. The hotels in Tel Aviv, Tiberias, Eilat and Jerusalem will join the six hotels that were part of the Accur chain, and will be managed by the Azorim Hotels chain. The hotels will now be known by the name Moriah Plaza. A spokesperson for Sheraton Israel commented that the hotels in the chain are located throughout the country.
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Hoteliers in emergency meeting over plans to levy VAT on tourists
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The Israel Hotels Association met in emergency session at their offices in Tel Aviv, to discuss possible moves to prevent the imposition of VAT on tourist packages to Israel; this in light of the government’s final budget proposals. Naor Chen, vice president of the association said “Not everyone understands the significance of the decision; our aim is to make them aware.”
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Recession leads to shortage of rental cars in Europe
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With the height of the summer season approaching, Ariel Tuval the manager of Hertz private sector has warned Israeli tourists travelling to Europe, of the importance of making car rental reservations well ahead of time. This is as a result of the worldwide economic recession which has led to rental companies reducing their fleets. Tuval commented “This summer, reservations for car rental will be closed earlier than expected.”
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German National Tourist Board: Optimism despite the recession
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Approximately 1,400 tourism professionals from 43 countries made the trip to this year’s annual Germany Travel Mart (GTM) held in the city of Rostock. This was the first occasion that the event had been hosted in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and 20 years since the unification of Germany. After recording a 2 percent increase in overnight stays during 2008, the worldwide economic crisis affected Germany with falls in Q1 of 2009, business travel particularly badly affected. Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) commented that despite the pessimistic forecasts for 2009, Germany expected a fall of only 1 percent in international tourism in 2009, better than that of their European neighbors.
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Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Germany’s hidden jewel begins attracting foreign guests
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Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Western Pomerania) in hosting this year’s Germany Travel Mart was given the opportunity to show the international community just why it has managed to become one of Germany’s fastest growing tourist destinations.
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El Al says foreign airlines not bringing tourists to Israel
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While delivering a speech to suppliers of Utravel, Amit Livni the Head of Marketing for El Al said that foreign airlines were flying mostly Israelis and not foreign tourists. He said that the supply of seats from foreign airlines had increased by 86 percent and that El Al had no intention of give up on any of its passengers.
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Israel to change aviation regulations
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The Israel Civil Aviation Authority and Ministry of Transport announced the draft proposal for new aviation regulations that will be brought before the Knesset for approval and will replace the existing aviation regulations that date back to 1927 and the British Mandate period.
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