May sees drop in hotel stays

Number of overnight stays in Israel's tourist hotels totals 8.2 million in first five months of 2011. 'Geopolitical situation leaving its mark,' says Hotel Association president

Reuters | Published: 06.29.11, 07:51

The number of overnight stays in Israel's tourist hotels in the first five months of 2011 totaled 8.2 million, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

May alone saw a drop of nearly 10% in the number of Israelis' hotel stays – from 958,000 last year to 868,000 this year. The same month recorded a 1.5% drop in the number of tourist stays compared to the previous year – from 998,000 to 983,000.

Since the beginning of the year, Israelis' hotels stays totaled 3.8 million hotels whole tourist stays amounted to 4.4 million – 54% of all hotel stays. A 2% increase was recorded in the number of overnight stays, compared to the same period last year, stemming from a 6% rise in the number of tourist stays.

March to May saw a very small drop in the number of tourist stays, compared to a slight increase felt in the three previous months. A drop was also recorded in the number of Israeli stays during this period.

The room occupancy in the first five months of 2011 reached 63% - similar to the 62% room occupancy of the same period last year.

Ami Federman, president of the Israel Hotels Association (IHA) said that "the geopolitical situation in Israel is leaving its mark on May's results in the hotels.

"The past few months have seen a drop in the number and extent of pilgrim groups arriving in Israel, and the results can be seen in the decline in Jerusalem and Nazareth hotels."

IHA officials estimate that the weakness in pilgrim tourism and in tourist combining visits to several countries in the region will continue in the coming months.