All the news about Israeli tourism

Sources in the airline industry estimate that in the last couple of months there has been a sharp fall in revenues recorded by airlines operating scheduled flights to Israel via ticket sales.  The hoteliers are also pessimistic: Since the start of the year a 25 percent fall was recorded in the number of foreign tourists visiting Israel.

Revenues for airlines operating scheduled flights to and from Israel slumped by 35 percent during August and September, even though these months are regarded as the peak of the tourist season.  These figures are very disappointing, especially on the background of impressive growth in passenger traffic recorded during this period at Ben Gurion Airport.

The reason for the negative impact on airline revenues was primarily as a result of discounted air fares caused by a shortfall in passenger numbers. The airlines have not concealed their fears for the coming winter season and some have already made arrangements already launching sales campaigns and at the same time reducing seating capacity on flights.

Both the aviation and hotel industries were left unimpressed with the survey published by the Bank of Israel which claimed that between May and August the tourist industry showed the first signs of a recovery. According to Shmuel Zuriel, head of the Israel Hotels Association, the presentation of the data was inaccurate, because it was wrong to compare the months surveyed with earlier months in 2009, instead they should have been compared with the corresponding months from last year.

 “If you compare these same months last year the picture would be completely different,” explained Zuriel.  “The first few months of 2009 were especially difficult.” He emphasized that the data from the Bank of Israel failed to take into account the “seasonal variations” that characterize the hotel industry.

He also noted that domestic tourism had rescued hoteliers from the decline in the number of overseas tourists and might continue to contribute in only a few areas, but it was from the overseas tourists that the higher revenues were received.