For the first time in a decade a new hotel will be built in Eilat, which is expected to include 62 suites at an intermediate level (Level C). The total investment in this hotel is about 31 million NIS, of which the Tourism Ministry will pay 6 million NIS.

Another hotel will be built in Beit Shean with a total investment of 23 million NIS, of which the ministry will pay 4.5 million. NIS This hotel will have 25 rooms of a high standard (Level A). The construction of these new hotels has been made possible by the recent inclusion of the areas into the Tourism Regional Priority Map.

The financial assistance to the hotels was approved this week by the Tourism Ministry’s Investment Administration which this week approved eight grant requests to construct five new hotels, expand one existing hotel and renovate two others with a total investment of 450 million NIS.

A 245-room hotel (high standard), which will be part of the Isrotel Hotels Chain, will be built in the German Colony in Jerusalem at a total investment of about NIS 256 million, of which the ministry will pay 51 million NIS.

The Director of the Investment Administration in the Tourism Ministry Eran Nitzan noted that the “approval of the hotel in Jerusalem represents a positive injection into Jerusalem’s tourism industry, which suffers from a lack of hotel rooms. The construction of another hotel in Eilat is the beginning of a process to upgrade the area and renew the tourism product in the resort.”

Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov noted that “the Tourism Ministry is working to encourage the increase of supply for hotel rooms as a result of the upward trend in incoming tourism. A greater hotel supply will allow us to deal with the high price of accommodation that characterizes the Israel tourism industry and we expect the increased supply to lead to a decrease in prices. By approving these new constructions, we are able to increase the attractiveness of Israel’s tourism product and the range of hotel rooms for incoming tourists and Israeli vacationers alike. ”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)