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.