All the news about Israeli tourism

Based on data from the Israel Hotels Association, July 2009 saw a 17 percent decrease in the number of tourist hotel nights compared to July 2008.  Domestic tourism failed to increase and room occupancy fell by 6 percent. Hotels Association: “Tourists are cutting short their stay in Israel.”

A total of 2.1 million hotel nights were recorded during July, this represented a fall of 6 percent on last July. The number of tourist hotel nights totaled 680,000; this compared to 821,000 the previous year (a reduction of 17 percent).  It should be noted that in July the Maccabiah games were held in Israel which helped to increase the number of hotel nights in Tel Aviv, Herzliya and in Netanya.

According to Naor Chen, vice president of the Israel Hotels Association, the picture that emerges from the hotels in Jerusalem, Tiberias and the north during July shows a change in the tourist mix reaching Israel, when in July like in preceding months, there was a fall in group tourism, this resulted in the average length of a visit being shorter for tourists coming to Israel.

Chen indicated that the central bureau of statistics and the ministry of tourism reported a moderate decline in the number of tourist arriving in Israel this July compared to July 2008, this gap reflected in the number of hotel nights and showing the growing phenomena of visits to relatives, and also the reduction in the length of the stay in Israel.

What was also apparent from the data from the hotels was that domestic tourism failed to blossom in July compared to earlier months.  In total the number of hotel nights recorded by Israel was 1.4 million nights, a minimal increase of only 1 percent and where 55 percent of these hotel nights were recorded in Eilat. Hotels in Jerusalem enjoyed an increase of 20 percent in hotel nights from Israeli guests.

Since the start of the year an 11 percent decrease in hotel nights was recorded (both foreign tourists and Israelis) compared to the same period in 2008 when a total of 10.8 million hotel nights were registered.  Tourist hotel nights showed a reduction of 26 percent.