All the news about Israeli tourism

Rafi Ferber, Vice President of the Hotels Association, expressed the support of the hoteliers for the efforts of Stanley Fisher, governor of the Bank of Israel, to support the dollar.  Ferber: “We could see ourselves before long returning to the level of 3.2 shekels to the dollar, this decline is dangerous for the tourism industry.”

“As part of the export industry, Israeli hotels are very sensitive to the exchange rate of the dollar ,” said Ferber.  “A strong dollar is good for tourism and good for the Israeli economy.”

According to Ferber the hoteliers fear that a significant devaluation in the rate of the dollar will result in a sharp fall in demand for incoming tourism by as much as 25 percent. “If it wasn’t for the efforts of Stanley Fisher, the governor of the Bank of Israel, who has recently attempted to stop the decline in the rate of the dollar, we could have found ourselves once again at a rate of 3.2 shekels to the dollar.  This decline is dangerous for the tourism industry.”

The Israel Hotels Association has calculated that an exchange rate of 3.2 shekels to the dollar would result in the loss of revenue to the tourism industry and to the economy of some 2.5 billion shekels. Of that figure the loss to the hotel sector would be about 650 million shekels.

According to Ferber, despite the increased costs for hotels, they cannot increase the price of the hotel nights and if the dollar were to crash, hotels would be forced to shut down sections and in some cases to close down completely with the loss of employment for some 3,000 workers.

 “Therefore, we ask that the efforts of the governor of the Bank of Israel be reinforced in stabilizing the exchange rate of the dollar, a critical step for the existence of the tourism industry.  We also call on the Israeli government to take steps right away in giving preferred status to export industries, including tourism, in everything related to setting up cheap and available credit and in the freezing of costs relating to government regulations,” added Ferber.