Dead Sea. New tourist attraction
Photo: GPO
Dead Sea to get its first mall
Global real estate company Bercleys unveils plans to build shopping mall in lowest place on earth at total investment of NIS 200 million. Survey shows one tourist has purchasing power of 17 Israelis
Global real estate agency Bercleys on Wednesday unveiled plans to build the first shopping mall at the Dead Sea, at a NIS 200 million ($52 million) investment.
The one-story 10,000-square meter (107,640-square feet) shopping mall will be located in the heart of the Dead Sea hotel strip, near the water.
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Architect Moore Yaski Sivan, who planned major projects such as the Azrieli towers, Ramat Aviv mall and Africa Israel building, will design the Dead Sea mall, which the company said would be completed within 30 months.
Mall in heart of hotel strip (photo courtesy of 3dvision)
Attorney Hagay Adoram, Bercleys' representative in Israel, told Calcalist that "the Dead Sea is one of Israel's prime travel destinations with about 2.3 million visitors a year, out of which 1.7 million are tourists.
"In order to assess the site's potential, the company conducted a comparative survey between two main travel destinations in Israel – the Dead Sea and Eilat. The analysis reveals that 49% of Israeli tourists visit the Dead Sea as compared to 15% who visit Eilat."
Mall from the inside (photo courtesy of 3dvision)
Adoram also said that the company compared how much Israelis spend on shopping, food and beverages on average as compared to foreign tourists, and found that one tourist has the purchasing power of 17 Israelis. The purchasing power of the total number of tourists visiting the Dead Sea each year is equal to that of about 30 million Israelis, according to the survey.
The Dead Sea mall will offer visitors dozens of global brands in various areas – apparel, Jewelry, concept stores and so on, as well as restaurants and cafés. The mall will also include a museum which will exhibit salt sculptors by international artists, an audio-visual show about the history of the Dead Sea, a visitors' center and a family recreational center.
This report was originally published in Hebrew by Calcalist
