Israel's hotel industry in crisis
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Israeli hotels suffer 25% decrease in tourist business
Sharp decreases in tourism across the country attributed to 2014 Gaza op, side-operations like Airbnb as hotels remain at 59% capacity.
Not only the wounded and grieving continue to feel the effects of Operation Protective Edge one year later - according to figures published by the Israel Hotel Association, the tourism industry also has yet to recover.
According to the figures, 4.1 million tourists staying in Israel's hotels from January to July 2015, but it was Israelis who saved the industry with 5.9 million paying for vacation stays in hotels, an increase of eight percent.
The drop in foreign traffic began in July 2014 and continued into 2015 with a 25 percent drop in tourists staying in hotels during the first half of 2015 when compared to the same period in 2014.
Expensive Country
The price difference between hotels belonging to the same chain in the two cities is so high that Israelis could spend a week-long vacation in the German capital – including a flight and a hotel room – and pay much less than for a Tel Aviv hotel alone.
Despite the slight increase in business from locals however, hotels remained at just 59 percent capacity during the first half of 2015.
But statistics show that the hotel industry in Israel is suffering from more than the effects of 2014's war in Gaza. Alternative travel arrangements like short term apartment and room rentals through businesses like Airbnb are taking larger and larger chunks of the industry's profits.
Israel's southern tourist destination of Eilat has felt the fallout of a stumbling tourist industry more than any other city. Eilat usually enjoys the presence of European tourists who come to enjoy the Red Sea resorts and attractions, but these numbers also dropped dramatically, in part due to economic hardship in Russia that led many to cancel their vacation plans.
In the first half of 2015, Eilat suffered a 46 percent decrease in hotel tourists when compared to the same period in 2014. Resorts on the Dead Sea saw a similar decrease of 34 percent while Tiberias, Nazareth and Jerusalem all noted a decrease of nearly 30 percent. Only Herzliya enjoyed a small increase of four percent.
Noaz Bar Nir, head of the Israel Hotel Association, said that the decrease in business has amounted to a loss of 2.7 million hotel room orders or NIS 1.2 billion.
"This crisis is long and deep like we haven't experienced for a decade," said Bar Nir. "These figures demand an immediate increase in funds for tourism promotion to Israel. Otherwise we will find ourselves immersed in the same crises without any hope."
Bar Nir said the funds for promotion would need to be more than doubled above the current amount of NIS 120 million.
