Israel
Hotel visits drop 47%
in first half
By HAIM SHAPIRO
Jerusalem Post
July 24, 2002
There were 1.2 bed nights by foreign tourists during the first
half of this year, a drop of 47 percent compared to the first half
of the previous year and a decrease of 80 percent compared to the
January through June period of 2000, before the intifada, the Hotel
Association announced Wednesday.
During the same period this year, the hotels registered 4.9 bed
nights by Israelis, 4 percent more than during the first half of
last year and 21 percent more than the equivalent period of 2000.
However, the increased hotel visits were only registered in some
locations; Eilat (10 percent), the Dead Sea (4 percent), Herzliya
(5 percent), and Haifa (4 percent). Elsewhere there was a drop in
the number of hotel stays by Israelis during the first six months
of this year, compared to the same period last year.
The total number of hotel stays of both tourists and Israelis during
the first half was 6.15 million, 13 percent less than during the
first six months of 2001 and 36 percent less than the first half
of 2000. However, the Association noted that from June there appeared
to be an upswing in the visits by Israelis to local hotels compared
to the previous months.
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