To sleep, perchance to dream of decent tourist lodgings in Tel Aviv
The Tourism Ministry and Tel Aviv Municipality are looking to reduce the cost of accommodations for tourists in the city. Among other options, they are examining the construction of tents on the roofs of car parks, trailer complexes in Yarkon Park and the new hostels in the southeast of the city.
Purpose: A hotel room in Tel Aviv for up to 200 shekels a night. The Tourism Ministry and Tel Aviv Municipality are looking at ideas on how to solve the expensive accommodation prices in the city, which do not allow popular tourism to develop. This is in spite of the high cost of flights that have been significantly reduced since low-cost companies such as EasyJet, Wizz Air and recently Ryanair have begun to fly to Israel.
The idea is to bring young people from Europe to spend a long time in Tel Aviv, and not just for weekends. Tourists spend a lot of money on entertainment but cannot afford the high hotel prices.
This is in addition to the fact that in Tel Aviv there is a great shortage of popular hotels and a shortage of hostels, especially those with cheap prices.
The prices of bed-nights in Tel Aviv, even the popular ones, are still significantly more expensive than the prices of overnight stays abroad, and the strong shekel makes it even more difficult for popular tourism to develop in the big city.
For example, searching for hotel prices found that 3 nights in a double room at the Abraham Hostel in Tel Aviv costs NIS 1,220, a price similar to three nights on the same dates at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Potsdamer Platz in Berlin or the Leonardo Hotel Berlin Mitte, both of them with a four-star rating.
"We are looking any way to lower the price of lodgings in Tel Aviv," explains Tourism Ministry Director-General Amir Halevi. "Many young people come to Tel Aviv on low-cost flights and also seek cheap accommodations. They spend a lot of money on entertainment, and we want them to stay in the city for longer."
Halevi claimed that one of the solutions being considered is the construction of tents on the roofs of existing parking lots or hostels, at the Dizengoff Center shopping mall or even in parks. "It will produce dozens of beds. We are in discussions with the city engineer to examine the issue and see if it meets all the requirements, " says Halevi.
'Stay away from the city center'
"Tel Aviv is a very expensive city," says Eitan Schwartz, director general of the World Tourism and Tourism Administration in Tel Aviv. "Until two years ago, It was an accepted fact that it is impossible to lower the price of lodgings in Tel Aviv. Now, together with the Ministry of Tourism, we have set the goal to create inexpensive hoteliery solutions through the models of Europe that move away from city centers.
"Among other things, we are looking into the possibility of building caravans in Yarkon Park or in Tel Aviv's southern park, or setting up tents at campgrounds, in addition to the possibility of setting up tents on the roofs of parking lots, etc. (We can—ed) put artificial grass and tents there, which in turn would reduce the cost of lodging in the city."
Schwartz adds that ways are also being explored to bring international chains specializing in hostels and private entrepreneurs to set up hostels in the city's southeastern neighborhoods in places close to the central station or to train stations.
According to him, the goal is to locate buildings that can be used for hotels, as well as plots where hostels can be built. All this is subject to the city building plan. "We have to open the valve that prevents tourism growth today. Not all solutions will be implemented in a short period, and some are long-term solutions," Schwartz said.
Getting more hotel on board
In an effort to encourage hotels to join the ratings system, the Ministry of Tourism will award hundreds of thousands of shekels to three-star hotels that will sign up for it. The goal here is to encourage hotel owners to renovate, so that they can meet the required level to allow them to receive a rating of three stars or more.
Since the new rating system began, 88 hotels have joined, with 74 of which already receiving their ratings. Most of the people who joined the hotel were rated 4 – 5 stars.
Out of 131 three-star hotels, only 18 joined the ratings system. The main reason is that the three-star hotels did not join the rating is the high cost of renovations and upgrades that are usually required to get such a rating.
In light of this, the Ministry of Tourism decided to allocate NIS 5 million from this year's budget to owners of three-star hotels who will join the ratings system.
Each hotel will be able to receive a grant of up to 40% of the recognized investment, but not more than NIS 400 thousand per hotel and no more than NIS 1.6 million per hotel chain.
The average investment is NIS 15,000 per room times the number of rooms in the hotel. This will enable hotel owners to perform installations, adjustments and improvements, purchase equipment and furniture in a manner consistent with the list of criteria required for maintaining their ratings level for at least three years.
