Survey reveals that Jerusalem second after Eilat as favourite holiday city
A survey carried out by the Jerusalem Hotel Association among 542 respondents over the age of 18, revealed that about 60 percent rated Jerusalem as the city with most of the tourist and cultural sites and second in popularity after Eilat. Tel Aviv was rated in third place with 22 percent of the vote and Tiberias in fourth place registered 6 percent.
According to data from a survey carried out by the Jerusalem Hotel Association, to check the holiday habits among the Jewish, Hebrew speaking population in Israel, Jerusalem was rated as the preferred holiday city in the opinion of those of retirement age. Distribution according to sex showed that 17 percent of men preferred Jerusalem, while 25 percent of women preferred Tel Aviv.
In response to the question as to the main reason for choosing a holiday in the capital, 36 percent indicated that it was because of the atmosphere in the city, 30 percent because of the historical and religious sites, 12 percent because of the festivals and cultural events and 4 percent because of museums in the city.
When asked what was the most important parameter in selecting a hotel, 40 percent choose the level of service, 21 percent selected additional services offered by the hotel, 13 percent the hotel’s rating, 11 percent the size of the bedroom and its decor and 7 percent the proximity of restaurants to the hotel.
In the last few months, hotels in Jerusalem recorded a fall in the number of hotel nights from both Israeli guests and foreign tourists, this as a result of the overall global slowdown. The hotels however announced their intention to invest resources in order to increase tourist traffic.
Ariel Rotstein, director of the Jerusalem Hotel Association, explained that hotels in the city do not discriminate in the standard of service between Israelis and foreign tourists. “We hope that Israeli tourism to the city will increase throughout the year,” he said, “if we succeed in equaling the same number of tourists in 2010 as that in 2009 it will be an achievement.”
