Israel's next tourism minister will face many challenges.
In the opinion of most people in the industry, outgoing Minister of Tourism Yoel Razvozov did a good job.
Tourist traffic flowed into Israel earlier than expected (with more than 2 million tourists since the beginning of the year), mainly due to new airlines arriving in Israel.
But there is still much work to be done.
The State of Israel is not accessible to tourists in many respects.
Prices in Israel are among the highest in the world, transportation is expensive, and restaurants are not cheap either.
According to many in the field - did a good job.
Razvozov, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Want to sleep in Aqaba
Razvozov tried to fight hotel prices through various initiatives, including hotels for NIS 500 per night, but it was too little and had no effect on the industry.
During the exit from the corona, the people of the aviation industry tried to get the airlines to return to Eilat.
The tourism wholesalers reported that the question that was repeated many times among foreign tourists who were offered to fly to Eilat is: Is it possible to cross the border to Sinai or Aqaba?
The reason is, of course, the high prices of hotels in Eilat.
The city fails to attract foreign tourists, and most of the tourists are Israelis.
Hotel prices in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are also very high, sometimes even more than in New York or Tokyo.
excessively expensive.
Tel Aviv, photo: Moshe Shay
The cost to the tourist is only one of the problems of the industry.
A tourist who wants to move between the tourist centers will find himself with limited and not cheap options.
The hours are limited, on weekends there is no public transportation and many tourists are forced to pay high prices for taxis.
The first thing the tourist sees when he enters Israel is taxi drivers who enter the terminal illegally.
The feeling is of landing in a third world country, and there is really no one to handle it - the police and the Ministry of Transportation hardly enforce the issue.
Many taxi drivers refuse to operate a meter and charge exorbitant prices.
Tourists encounter this phenomenon immediately upon landing.
Extortionate prices for tourists.
A taxi (archive, the photo is for illustration only), photo: Michel dot com
Another problem is the tourist infrastructure.
Eilat, Tiberias, Jerusalem and the other tourist centers suffer from a low-level tourist infrastructure.
Some beaches are not accessible, and some do not have clean changing rooms.
The level of service in many hotels and attractions is lacking.
The variety of hotels is very limited, with a low supply of mid-range hotels (3-4 stars) at reasonable prices.
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