Isrotel Ambassador Hotel in Eilat
NIS 270 million budgeted for new hotels
Plans for subsidies for new hotel mulled by Finance Ministry; application for aid package to be handled by Ministry of Tourism
The Finance and Tourism Ministries have agreed on a NIS 270 million (USD 61.7) aid package for entrepreneurs planning to build new hotels in the 2006-2007 fiscal year.
The agreement was mulled in February when Ehud Olmert was acting prime minister and Abraham Hirchson was tourism minister.
Interested applicants have to prove their commitment to completing their projects and applications will be studied by a joint committee of experts from the Finance and Tourism Ministries.
A number of criteria have been set for an application to be considered: the number of rooms, height of room top, and the requested subsidy should not exceed 10 percent of the total investment in B areas and 24 percent in A areas.
In addition, investors will be bind to start building by a date set by the committee and subsidies will be funneled once construction commences.
The move comes at a time of crisis for the tourism industry in the north where dozens of hotels are empty because of the security situation.
The Ministry of Tourism said it views with great imoprtance the role of the tourism industry to Israeli economy even at times of war.
Gad Lior contributed to this report
