All the news about Israeli tourism

During a press conference targeted at encouraging tourism to the city, Ariella Shmiede-Doron, chairwoman of the Jerusalem Hotel Association claimed that the Ministry of Tourism was encouraging tourists to visit the Palestinian authority at the expense of Jerusalem hotels.  She also commented on the Treasury’s plan to abolish the VAT exemption on foreign tourist packages, claiming that this was yet another step that would add to the continuing fall in tourist hotel nights in Jerusalem and as a result the dismissal of another 600 local hotel workers.

The Jerusalem Hotel Association reported that since January 2009 there has been a 31 percent fall in the number of tourist hotel nights in Jerusalem compared to the corresponding period last year.  In monetary terms this is a loss of some 31 million shekels.  As a result they have called on the government and the ministry of tourism to allocate $50 million to market the city of Jerusalem, with its massive tourism potential as a religious center for the 3 monotheistic religions.  

At this time the tourism association in Jerusalem, in cooperation with the Jerusalem Hotel Association, has launched a new summer campaign at a cost of 1 million shekels, to encourage domestic tourism to the capital.  The campaign called “visited for one day – it’s as if you didn’t visit at all” will offer a variety of deals from the Hotel Association, including entry to tourist attractions in Jerusalem at discounted prices.

The head of the Jerusalem Hotel Association said that the most ridiculous thing is that the Ministry of Tourism has signed marketing agreements and assistance to many overseas travel agents; these agreements intended to help strengthen tourism to the Palestinian Authority and in particular to the city of Bethlehem.  This is at the expense of encouraging tourism to Israel and to Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem hotels are unable to compete with the hotels in Bethlehem, there the price for half board ranges between $22 and $28 a night” indicated Shmiede-Doron, adding “Unfortunately during the time of a worldwide economic recession, governments try to find solutions to aid and encourage the tourist and hotel industries to survive the difficult period and to attract tourists; however the government in Israel acts in completely the opposite way.”