Since the opening of the sky, the increase in hotel occupancy has slowed by Israelis • In the last decade, not even one new hotel has been built in Eilat • Will there be a decline in prices in the coming decade?
In the past decade, no hotel has been established in Eilat
Photography:
Yehuda ben Yitzhak
The open sky has brought Israelis plenty of cheap flights and vacation offers overseas at far cheaper prices than vacation rentals in Israel. The differences are so great that people of low socioeconomic status can afford a holiday abroad, but not a hotel stay in Israel.
The hotels justify the high prices of tough regulation, costly training and labor costs. But despite high prices, hotel occupancy has reached new highs in the last decade, and there is a real shortage of hotel rooms. The mobilization of property owners under AirBNB and the like did not alleviate much of the hardship either. The number of hotel rooms at the end of 2011 was 47.5 thousand and by the end of 2019 the number reached 55,733 rooms. Interestingly, in the last decade, not even one new hotel has been built in the tourist city of Eilat.
Since the opening of the sky, the increase in hotel occupancy has been slowed down by Israelis' nights, and for the past eight years it has not been directly proportional to population growth. If by then the growth was four percent a year, over the past decade the growth has slowed to two percent a year. However, despite the slowdown in the growth of Israeli occupancy, hotels are in high occupancy, especially in the Dead Sea, where the average occupancy rate for the whole year does not fall below 70 percent.
One of the main tasks of the Ministry of Tourism is to spread the demand for hotel rooms. Tourists prefer not to come to Israel on Passover, July-August and Sukkot, because during these periods the Israelis are willing to pay even NIS 16,000 a week at the hotel, and tourists expect a package not to exceed EUR 400 a week. They prefer to come in low seasons rather than peak seasons. However, the Low Coast flight season to Eilat begins after Sukkot and ends before Passover.
Supply and demand
According to Yehuda Zafrani, tourism, aviation expert and tourism director of the Hot Consumer Club, the past decade has been the best for Israel in terms of tourism. "The open sky revolution has led to a reduction of over 50 percent of flights abroad, and for cheaper tourists to come to Israel. Only now is the beginning of a change in domestic tourism, following a 30 percent subsidy in hotel construction. There are dozens of hotels under construction, so in the next decade, dozens of new hotels will appear, and when there is competition it will bring down prices. "
Zafrani adds: "It's all about supply and demand. It's a process that began with a full-time tourism minister throughout his term. Long-term, full ministerial term allows for long-term processes to be driven, and now the processes are happening. "
The Ministry of Tourism has initiated a series of laws designed to encourage entrepreneurs to build hotels. Enacted a law that transformed hotels into national infrastructure, so plans for hotel construction were discussed by the National Infrastructure Committee and the hotel's construction period significantly shortened from about 10 years to two to four years, with the process only in one committee. Conversion of office buildings to hotels has been entrusted to the authority of a local committee only and no provincial committee is needed. A new hotel entrepreneur can also approve a 20 percent change of residential space to sell "on paper" apartments and receive funding for the hotel's construction.
"You have to learn from the Turks and the Cypriots," says Zafrani. "There is no reason that in Cyprus with a million residents, there are four million tourists, four tourists per resident. What is there in total? Some hotels and hotels. In Israel, on the other hand, there is a religious and historical aspect as well as a resort, with Tel Aviv starring among the 20 most desirable tourism cities. The vision for the next decade, with the lowering of prices, is at least 10 million tourists. "
In recent months, international hotel chains entering Israel are experiencing momentum, whether in existing hotel management agreements, or in renovating buildings and adapting them to hotels and building new hotels. It turns out that despite the massive departure of Israelis abroad, nearly 10 million, the Israelis also did not give up vacation in the country. Aviation or any other reason. The third-year-olds prefer to retire in Israel, whether due to mobility difficulties, a language barrier and also for fear of personal security in an unfamiliar environment, "say sources in the tourism industry. Domestic tourism also saves the hotel industry during periods of dryness, which result from security strategic reasons and strengthen Israelis' connection to the country. The Ministry of Tourism also sees this as a value contribution to the integration of cultures, communities and religions.
Boutique hotels
If we define boutique hotels by the number of rooms, in the last decade there has been a rash of small hotels in Israel, of up to 100 rooms. Many residential buildings in Tel Aviv that are designated for preservation are undergoing conversion to hotels. This trend is also evident in Haifa, and in other cities that have homes from the early 20th century. In Tel Aviv alone, the number of rooms has increased by 33 percent over the past decade, with most rooms being small and intimate.
New accommodation solutions
Because of the time it takes to build a hotel, the Ministry of Tourism has been encouraging entrepreneurs in recent years to set up campsites to create a variety of cheap accommodation, and has budgeted it for hundreds of thousands of shekels. The trend of landlords is gaining momentum among Israelis as infrastructure is meticulous. Just recently, an outdoor camping complex has been launched in an urban setting. The complex, in the peace forest at the Armon Commissioner's Ridge, is within walking distance of the first station complex, Guy Ben Hinom, the City of David National Park and the Western Wall.
The complex has 200 accommodations and is expected to ease the plight of hotel rooms in the city. At the same time as gathering groups during the winter season, the compound operators are preparing to receive families and individuals this spring. Over the next decade, there will be a lot more small hotels in the country at different price levels, which will allow more Israelis to relax and also more tourists to get a cheap and comfortable resort that complements the cheap prices of Low Coast flights.